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Friday, September 23, 2022
Vol. 10, No. 38
GUIDE TO FALL
FATAL NORTHERN BOULEVARD CRASH
BLANK SLATE HONORS 40 UNDER 40
PAGES 24-32
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
Lafazan failed to report a $100K loan
SCHOOL SPIRIT
Nassau legislator amended financial disclosures from billionaire investors BY C E L EST E H A D R I C K Although Nassau County requires public officials to disclose their debts, Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan for two years did not report a 2020 loan of as much as $100,000 that he received from a billionaire couple. Lafazan, a Woodbury Democrat who lost his bid for the Democratic nomination to Congress last month, waited until last Wednesday to amend his 2021 and 2022 Nassau financial disclosure forms to reflect a “student loan” from billionaire investor Bryan Lawrence and his wife Elizabeth. By then, Lafazan, who was elected to the county Legislature in 2017, had already lost his primary race for the Democratic nomination to run for the 3rd Congressional District being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove); a political rival had requested a federal investigation into the loan and alleged Lafazan disclosure forms that did not disclose the loan had been circulating for a month. Last Friday, Lafazan’s initial and amended disclosures were released by the County Board of Ethics pursuant to a Freedom of Information Law request. The county requires elected officials and other county officers to file annual financial disclosures by May 15 of the following year. The 2021 dis-
closure, covering the previous year of 2020, shows it was started on April 26, 2021 at 1:41 p.m. and completed on April 26, 2012 at 2:14 p.m. The amended disclosure shows the same start time but says it was completed on Sept, 7, 2020 at 2:20 p.m. The amended 2022 disclosure, for the 2021 year, says it was started May 16, 2022 but completed Sept. 7, 2022 at 2:23 p.m. Nothing was listed under debts on the initial disclosures for 2020 and 2021. The amended disclosures showed this same addition under the section labeled “Debts” in excess of $5,000, “Joshua Lafazan, Student Loan Bryan & Elizabeth Lawrence, Park Ave., NY.NY” The amount category was redacted. Neither Lafazan nor the county’s Democratic legislative spokesman responded to an inquiry asking why Lafazan waited so long to disclose the loan. Lafazan’s amendments to his county forms came more than a month after The New York Post on Aug. 6 questioned the loan. The U.S. House of Representatives website shows that Lafazan filed two disclosures in May reporting the 2020 loan, totaling between $50,001 to $100,000. Continued on Page 52
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MANHASSET SCHOOL DISTRICT
Manhasset Juniors celebrated the high school’s homecoming events over the weekend.
Alonso Foundation gives to local groups BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Despite hitting nearly 40 home runs and being an integral part of a New York Mets team that clinched a playoff berth for the first time since
2016, one of first baseman Peter Alonso’s most impressive feats has come off the diamond. Alonso and his wife Haley started the Alonso Foundation in 2020, following the all-star’s first full sea-
son in Queens. Citing a warm reception from Mets fans and so many New Yorkers, the two said they established a foundation to create change on a global and local scale, Continued on Page 46
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