Serving Roslyn, East Hills, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, Greenvale, Old Westbury and North Hills
$1.50
Friday, September 23, 2022
Vol. 10, No. 38
GUIDE TO FALL
OLD WESTBURY RAISES WATER RATES
BLANK SLATE HONORS 40 UNDER 40
PAGES 24-32
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
Lafazan failed to report $100K loan
PA S S I N G T H E T O R C H
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 47
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH SHORE SCHOOLS
Glen Head Elementary School students, faculty and staff met for their annual Convocation Ceremony. There, fifth graders passed the torch to a new generation of kindergarteners.
Camp Jacobson told to cease operations BY ST E V E N K E E H N E R
ing law violations, including Camp Jacobson, which hosted 440 campAfter 14 years of operation, ers this summer. The East Hills-based Jewish Brookville has ordered the Sid Jacobson JCC to stop all activities on community center purchased the 15its village property because of zon- acre property in Brookville in 2008.
Since then, thousands of kids have attended their programs. Previously, the center also ran the Bernice Jacobson Day School & Camp in Brookville, which normally Continued on Page 47
Visit theroslyntimes.com or theisland360.com for the latest in breaking news.