Brownsville man faces life sentence
following arrest for BBQ massacre
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
An alleged gunman faces
life in prison for igniting a
mass shooting at a Brownsville
community gathering that left
one dead and 11 injured in July,
according to authorities.
Brownsville resident Kyle
Williams, 20, was arraigned before
Brooklyn Supreme Court
Justice Danny Chun on Monday,
where prosecutors charged
him with second-degree murder,
assault, criminal possession
of a weapon, and reckless
endangerment for turning a
local get-together into a bloody
face-off between rival groups,
according to Brooklyn’s top
prosecutor.
“A beloved community celebration
held peacefully and
joyously became chaotic and
tragic when this defendant allegedly
opened fi re in the middle
of a crowd,” said District
Attorney Eric Gonzalez in a
prepared statement.
The massacre erupted when
Williams allegedly began fi ghting
with 38-year-old Jason Pagan
at the annual ‘Old Timers
Day’ block party — where hundreds
of community members
A Brownsville man faces life in prison for igniting a mass shooting that
killed one and injured 11 last July. Photo by Todd Maisel
gathered in the Brownsville
Playground on Hegemony Avenue
COURIER L 20 IFE, NOV. 22-28, 2019
and Sackman Street on
July 27, according to the authorities.
The defendant then allegedly
drew a gun and executed
Pagan with multiple gunshots
to the head and torso, setting
off a fi refi ght amid the crowds
— during which 11 innocent
people were shot, according to
Gonzalez’s offi ce.
Police cuffed Williams on
Oct. 16 after investigators received
tips from locals, and multiple
eyewitnesses identifi ed
him as the man who sparked
the mass shooting.
The authorities are still looking
for the second shooter, cops
said after Williams’s arrest.
Cops also recovered the
nine-millimeter handgun
Williams allegedly used and
obtained an admission from
him, but a spokesman for
Gonzalez’s offi ce declined to
disclose what crimes he confessed
to.
Williams was ordered held
without bail, and is set to return
to court on Jan. 15, 2020,
according to offi cials.
Bay fraudster makes
crime history
BY JESSICA PARKS
A Sheepshead Bay man
was sentenced to 18 months
imprisonment in Brooklyn
Federal Court Monday for
what is believed to be the nation’s
fi rst conviction for an
initial offering fraud featuring
cryptocurrency.
Maksim Zaslavskiy
raised at least $300,000 from
over 1,000 individuals over a
three-month period through
investments he attained by
misrepresenting his new virtual
money enterprise, according
to court documents.
“Zaslavskiy committed
an old-fashioned fraud camoufl
aged as cutting-edge
technology,” said U.S. Attorney
Richard P. Donoghue.
The 39-year-old was arrested
in October 2017 on
charges of securities fraud
and conspiracy to commit
securities fraud for the operation
of two initial coin offerings,
or ICOs – a strategy often
used by startups to raise
funds to create a new form of
cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency — of
which Bitcoin is the most well
known — is a form of virtual
money that has popped up in
the past decade and attracted
strong investment, especially
in 2017 when Zaslavskiy’s
crimes were committed.
Zaslavskiy promoted his
ICOs by claiming the cryptocurrency
he offered was subsidized
by reputable fi nancial
markets.
His fi rst company – RECoin
Group Foundation LLC
– fi rst began advertising online
around July 2017, where
it was claimed to be “the fi rst
ever cryptocurrency backed
by real estate” markets nationally
and internationally
with 100 percent of cryptocurrency
sales going towards
real estate investments.
The Brooklyn computer
programmer testifi ed before
the Securities Exchange
Commission that he nor any
of his team ever purchased
real estate during the time
of the company’s operation,
court documents said.
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