New York paid man who tweeted at Trump $69 million for ventilators he never delivered
In late March, New York state paid an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley $69.1 million for 1,450 ventilators that were never delivered, BuzzFeed News reports.
A state official told BuzzFeed News the engineer, Yaron Oren-Pines, "was recommended to us by the White House coronavirus task force because they were doing business with him as well. I think everyone was genuinely trying to help each other out and get supplies."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In early March, Cuomo signed an executive order to streamline getting much-needed medical equipment, allowing some payments for ventilators and personal protective equipment to go out before the orders were fulfilled. New York paid Oren-Pines $69.1 million on March 30, with Oren-Pines charging $47,656 for each ventilator — at least triple the price of top-of-the-line devices. This was the largest payment the New York Department of Health has made during the coronavirus pandemic.
With no ventilators ever delivered, the state's contract with Oren-Pines has been terminated, and a spokesperson for the New York Office of General Services told BuzzFeed News "a bulk of the money was returned to the state." Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, told BuzzFeed News that New York had "no choice but to overturn every rock to find ventilators and other needed equipment. States were forced to fend for themselves to purchase lifesaving supplies to combat a global pandemic and with all modeling showing a more severe spread of this virus with more hospitalizations and more fatalities."
-
The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pillSpeed Read Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been racing to release the first GLP-1 pill
-
Maduro’s capture: two hours that shook the worldTalking Point Evoking memories of the US assault on Panama in 1989, the manoeuvre is being described as the fastest regime change in history
-
Six sensational hotels to discover in 2026The Week Recommends From a rainforest lodge to a fashionable address in Manhattan – here are six hotels that travel journalists recommend for this year
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
