Thousands of independent grocers across New York City are forming a fast-growing political coalition to demand that elected officials and law enforcement clamp down on shoplifters, claiming that increasingly brazen and violent heists have created a crisis, The Post has learned.
The group — which already represents nearly 4,000 stores, including corner bodegas and supermarkets like KeyFood and C-Town in the New York metro area — is calling for prosecutors and judges to set bail for “repeat theft offenders,” reversing key provisions of New York’s sweeping and controversial bail reform law in 2019.
Collective Action to Protect our Stores, or CAPS, is also asking lawmakers to make assaults on retail workers a Class D felony — a protection given to MTA and NYPD officers and livery drivers in New York that grocers argue they should receive as essential workers, too.
“We have been assaulted, terrorized, and our physical and mental health jeopardized,” the group said in a letter being sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams on Monday in addition to other city and state officials. “A rise in larceny cases has hit independent supermarkets hard.”
Haagen-Dazs pints are popular shoplifting items, grocers say.William Farrington for NY Post
The group also wants legislators to tackle a problem that many believe is at the heart of the spike in burglaries: the fact that thieves are not typically prosecuted or arrested for stealing less than $1,000 worth of goods. CAPS is asking for a change in the law so that serial shoplifters who cumulatively steal more than $1,000 worth of goods over time will be charged with grand larceny instead of petit larceny.
“Repeat offenders are the key words,” Carlos Collado, who owns two Fine Fare grocery stores in the Bronx and Harlem, told The Post. “We are not asking for elevated charges for first-time offenders, but to send a message to those who make it a career.”
Businesses that resell stolen goods should likewise be put on notice, CAPS says in the letter, which asks Albany legislators to reclassify such transactions as Class A misdemeanors that could result in fines and even short jail time for operators.
Grocers regularly face brazen individuals who repeatedly come into their stores with backpacks and large shopping bags to steal items like Tide detergent, Red Bull energy drinks, Haagen-Dazs ice cream and steaks that they can quickly resell, as The Post has previously reported.
Carlos Collado, who owns grocery stores in the Bronx and Harlem, has mostly given up on calling the cops when his stores are robbed.Stefano Giovannini for NY Post
“Ninety-seven percent of the shoplifters do it to sell the stuff,” said Francisco Marte, who owns two bodegas in the Bronx and heads up the Bodega group. Very few are “doing it because they are hungry,” Marte added.
Among CAPS’ initial members are the Bodega Small Business Group and its 3,000 members in NYC, Long Island and New Jersey; the National Supermarket Association along with its 600 store members, including the nearly 300 Key Food stores in New York. And the Metro Supermarket Association, which represents about 60 Korean grocers. The group has hired a lobbying firm, CMW Strategies.
Many feel abandoned by NYPD and legislators alike. As The Post previously reported, a group of Latino supermarket owners who described themselves as longtime Democrats backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldinin the November election because of his hard stance on crime.
CAPS members believe NYPD and New York District Attorney units could benefit from forming dedicated groups focusing on retail theft.
Just 327 people account for about 6,660 shoplifting arrests in NYC during 2022: cops
0 seconds of 44 secondsVolume 0%
On Thursday, the NYPD said just 327 unrepentant crooks accounted for 30% of the Big Apple’s 22,000 shoplifting arrests last year. That means the alleged recidivists got busted a total of about 6,600 times — for an average of more than 20 times each.
NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri added that “about half” of the group were “convicted felons” and that 235 of the 327 serial shoplifters “are walking around the streets of New York right now.”
Nallely Dejesus, whose family owns five grocery stores under the KeyFood banner in the Bronx, said supermarkets are in a bind over whether to tell employees to try catch shoplifters in the act and stop them.
“You become the go-to store in the neighborhood if you don’t do anything,” Dejesus told The Post.
This summer, however, she said her brother — after thwarting a would-be meat burglar four times in the Bronx location he managed — saw the thug barge into the store wielding a shotgun.
“My brother ran to the back of the store where we have a storage room and the customers who were in the aisle ran with him for safety,” Dejesus said. “All the customers [at the checkout counters] were on the floor — movie style.”
The police didn’t show up until an hour later, she said.
“We lost business after that,” Dejesus said. “Because who wants to go to a store where someone walked in with a shotgun?”
A group of Hispanic grocers, who’d always voted for democrats, supported Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, last year because of his stance on crime.Stefano Giovannini for NY Post
Collado said it’s “maybe in the past eight months” that he and fellow supermarket operators, exhausted from a lack of law enforcement, “started feeling like it’s useless to call the cops.”
“Sometimes now we catch them and we don’t even bother calling NYPD unless it results in a violent aggressor,” Collado said. “We don’t even hear from the DAs. We handle it ourselves.”
President Biden arrived in Mexico late Sundayfor the North American Leaders’ Summit as newly empowered House Republicans vow to investigate his role in his family’s international businesses, including in Mexico, where he helped relatives woo the nation’s business elite, according to records from first son Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Joe Biden as vice president used Air Force Two and his official residence in Washington to host his son Hunter and younger brother Jim Biden’s Mexican associates in what critics say was part of a broader corrupt use of government assets to score business for his family.
President Biden’s Mexico trip is his first visit to another Western Hemisphere country since taking office. He will meet on Monday and Tuesday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico for talks expected to touch on trade, record-breaking illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
It’s unclear if Biden will meet with any business associates of his relatives during the trip, which followed a brief stop at the US-Mexico border on Sunday.
Laptop records for the Biden family’s Mexico pursuits span Joe Biden’s vice presidency and the years before he took office as president — a period that coincided with the family seeking an array of foreign deals, including in China and Ukraine.
Jeff Cooper, a longtime US-based Biden family business associate, was a pervasive figure in the Biden family’s Mexican ventures and was reached by The Post for comment. Cooper rushed off the phone when asked about those ventures, promising he would answer questions by email before choosing not to do so.
Jeff Cooper, left, poses at the vice president’s residence in 2015 with Joe and Hunter Biden and a trio of Mexican billionaires.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I actually answered on accident,” Cooper said when a reporter for The Post introduced himself on the phone Friday.
“So I apologize,” Cooper told The Post. “I don’t have five minutes today. But if you happen to email questions, if you’d like, I’m happy to answer them of course.”
Cooper did not respond to emailed questions seeking to clarify his extensive role in the Biden family’s Mexican business efforts, which featured efforts to do business with the country’s immensely wealthy Slim and Aleman families.
Hunter Biden visited Mexico on apparent business trips at least six years in a row — from 2011 through 2016 — while his father was vice president, according to laptop records, and communications include references to his father, though details remain vague on the amount of money that changed hands and Joe Biden’s specific involvement.
The then-vice president (center) meets with Mexican billionaires Carlos Slim (left) and Miguel Aleman Velasco (right).
A source close to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who took office Saturday, told The Post that House Republicans are intent on getting answers.
“The Biden administration and family will go to the ends of the earth to frustrate our investigators, but there are a number of parties that are beyond their reach of corrupt influence — banks and other financial institutions, business partners that were cheated or defrauded by the Bidens and others in possession of control of relevant documents and records,” the source close to McCarthy said. “We will get answers whether they like it or not.”
Cooper is a key potential witness who could illuminate the Biden family’s Mexican family’s business interests and whether Joe Biden corruptly used his office to win financial benefits for his family.
Cooper is a wealthy asbestos litigation lawyer and his business links to the Biden family date back to at least 2005 when he worked on lawsuits with Joe BIden’s late son Beau Biden’s firm Bifferato, Gentilotti & Biden. By 2006, his former law firm SimmonsCooper invested $1 million for Hunter, Beau and Jim Biden’s failed investment bank Paradigm.
The investment came the same year as Congress considered asbestos reform legislation, in which the elder Biden played a pivotal role blocking a change that could have limited funding for payouts, after extensive lobbying by Cooper’s firm. A Joe Biden spokesman claimed in 2008 that the money wasn’t linked to the bill and that the Biden family bank repaid the investment. Before the business flopped, Jim Biden allegedly predicted Paradigm would succeed because “we’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden,” according to a 2021 book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger.
Cooper and Hunter Biden proceeded to partner on Mexican business pursuits involving the Slim and Aleman families.
Since at least 2011, Hunter hobnobbed with Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim, who at one point was the world’s richest man. A Hunter Biden electronic calendar entry says that in May 2011, Hunter was booked for a “tentative tour hosted by Carlos Slim” of the tycoon’s private “Soumaya Museum,” in Mexico City.
President Biden visited the US border on Sunday en route to Mexico City.AP
Hunter and Cooper sought Slim’s investment for Cooper’s online gaming company Ocho Gaming and digital wallet firm ePlata, in which Hunter had a 5.25% stake through his firm Owasco, The Post previously reported.
Hunter also reportedly owned 3% of Cooper’s venture capital firm Eudora Global and earned around $80,000 a year serving on the company’s board, according to laptop documents. In 2015, Hunter received a “one-time payment” of $300,000 from Eudora.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 hosted in Washington both Slim and the wealthy Mexican Aleman family, whom Hunter Biden and Cooper separately were courting.
It wasn’t the last time Joe Biden would be associated with the business relationship. A text message recovered from Hunter’s laptop shows him referring vaguely to involving his father in a “Slim ask” — after Joe Biden left the vice presidency.
“Spoke to my dad about ‘Slim ask,’ ” Hunter texed Cooper on July 24, 2018.
“Oh that sounds SO F’ING GOOD,” Cooper replied.
Cooper and Hunter Biden courted Aleman Magnani, meanwhile, by performing favors such as setting up meetings with US officials while seeking reciprocal assistance with Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s effort to enter Mexico’s energy sector. Cooper and Hunter also considered the Aleman family as possible online gaming investors.
Hunter Biden sought business in Mexico during his dad’s vice presidency.
“Miguel [Aleman Magnani] wants us to go to Mexico City,” Cooper wrote to Hunter Biden on Feb. 26, 2013, shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in for a second term as vice president, for which Hunter helped score tickets for the Mexican businessman.
“This is setting up to be flippin gigantic brother,” Cooper added.
Hunter set up two meetings for Aleman Magnani with Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, on March 17, 2014, and Jan. 23, 2015, and a different meeting with the Federal Aviation Authority’s administrator, according to laptop emails.
Cooper emailed Hunter to ask if he would be joining the Mexican air executive, but the second son replied. “No, but I am calling Sec. Foxx to let him know we are buddies.”
Hunter emailed a Foxx staffer that “Miguel Aleman (Interjet Chairman) is a close family friend but I have no business with the company.”
Cooper wrote to Hunter in 2014 about the possibility to involving Ukrainian energy company Burisma in Aleman Magnani’s January 2015 meeting with Foxx. The Ukrainian company paid Hunter up to $1 million per year to serve on its board when then-Vice President Biden controlled the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.
House Republicans led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy plan to investigate the Biden family’s businesses.Pat Benic/UPI/Shutterstock
“I met with Miguel [Aleman Magnani] last night. He has set up mtgs with the Secty of Energy and the CEO of Pemex for Jan 12. Is there any chance that anyone from Burisma could attend?” Cooper wrote.
It’s unclear what ended up happening with that request, but Hunter later asked Aleman Magnani to help “smooth out” a Mexican visa problem for Burisma owner Nikolai Zlochevskyi, who ultimate was unable to travel to Mexico to finalize a deal Cooper set up with Pemex, the state-owned Mexican oil and gas company.
“Going to have to do some serious back pedaling with Burisma,” Hunter wrote in an email to Cooper on Feb. 16, 2015. “Most likely jeopardizes my board position.”
Cooper replied suggesting that Joe Biden, the sitting vice president, place a call to the Mexican businessman.
“I am shocked Miguel didn’t come through at crunch time,” Cooper wrote. “[T]hey clearly value the relationship with your family AND they know they could sustain serious damage here by making enemies with you . . . Maybe a call from you or your dad to his dad? Maybe that shakes things loose. Whaddya think?”
An email the same month made clear that the Alemans were considered possible gaming investors.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has resisted pressure to appoint a Biden family special counsel.Getty Images
“Just wondering who is the best first major partner outside Interjet. Obviously [the] Slims provide that if we could actually sell them on the idea and not have them just take it and create their own,” Hunter emailed Cooper in February 2015.
But it’s unclear whether the Slims or Aleman Magnani ever came through for Hunter and the then-vice president’s son vented to the Interjet chief while he and Cooper flew aboard Air Force Two on an official vice presidential visit to Mexico City on Feb. 24, 2016.
“We are arriving late tonight on Air Force 2 to Mx City. I’m attending meeting [with Mexican] President [Peña Nieto] and dad. Would love to see you but you never respond. I am really upset by it . . . I want you at the plane when the VP lands with your Mom and Dad and you completely ignore me,” Hunter wrote to Aleman Magnani.
“I’ve looked at what your family has done and want to follow in that tradition,” Hunter went on. “We have been talking about business deals for 7 years. And I really appreciate you letting me stay at your resort villa . . . but I have brought every single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing White House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration and then you go completely silent . . . You make me feel like I’ve done something to offend you.”
There are other Mexican threads involving the first family’s business ventures, including Jim Biden’s involvement and the unclear outcome of various pursuits, and Hunter’s relations with other Mexican businessmen. For example, laptop records also indicate that Hunter had breakfast with billionaire and Clinton Foundation donor Carlos Bremer, the former director of Mexico’s stock exchange, in Monterrey in northern Mexico.
Jim Biden, who also worked with Hunter on Chinese business ventures that allegedly involved his powerful brother, emailed Hunter on May 7, 2015, about a proposed deal that would involve Slim and a Mexican state-owned Pemex.
“Have a very real deal with Pemex (Carlos Slim) need financing literally for a few days to a week,” Jim Biden wrote. “Have the seller (refinery /slims) and buyer major being delivered from pipeline in (h/ USA) Nothing is simple but this comes very close. As always the devil is in the detail! Any interest on the long skirts part?”
Later, in 2017, Jim Biden more cryptically wrote to Hunter, “short list of foreign friends for next phase.” The list included Slim, whom Jim described as “very friendly” and “arguably the richest man in the world.”
Joe Biden has denied making any money from his son’s prior overseas business deals and the White House says he stands by his 2019 claim that he has never even discussed those enterprises with his son — despite evidence that he has interacted with Hunter and first Jim Biden’s associates from China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine.
Hunter Biden flew with his dad to Mexico on Air Force Two in 2016.
Sometimes initial reporting doesn’t capture the full scope of the Biden family business arrangements. For example, it was not immediately clear in October 2020 to what degree Hunter and Jim Biden cemented business relations with CEFC China Energy when documents on that endeavor were first reported, before more intensive review revealed the Bidens likely were paid $4.8 million by the Beijing-linked firm.
Hunter Biden said in communications retrieved from a former laptop that he paid as much as “half” of his income to his father and a 2017 email described 10% for the” big guy” in a business deal being negotiated in China. Two former Hunter Biden associates have identified Joe Biden as the big guy.
Hunter Biden reportedly is under federal criminal investigation for possible tax fraud, money laundering, lying on a gun-purchase form and unregistered foreign lobbying.
After his father became president in 2021, Hunter launched a new art career and is seeking as much as $500,000 for his novice works. The White House developed a plan for those art sales to be “anonymous” to theoretically prevent corruption, though ethics experts say that the arrangement could make matters worse.
Fibrosis regression observed in 50% of patients receiving fazirsiran
− Median reductions of 94% of Z-AAT accumulation in the liver and mean reduction of 68% in histologic globule burden
− Treatment emergent adverse events were generally well balanced between fazirsiran and placebo groups
− Results consistent with AROAAT-2002 open-label study previously published in The New England Journal of Medicine
− Arrowhead to host webcast investor call today, January 9, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET
Arrowhead will host a webcast call for investors today, January 9, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET to review the Phase 2 data. To register for the webcast, visit the Events and Presentations page under the Investors section of www.arrowheadpharma.com.
Precision BioSciences, Inc.(Nasdaq: DTIL), a clinical stage gene editing company developing ARCUS®-basedex vivoallogeneic CAR T andin vivogene editing therapies, today reported on its significant accomplishments in 2022 and announced its corporate priorities and anticipated clinical development and research milestones for 2023.
“In 2022, we advanced our corporate priorities strengthening the company and made significant progress with our clinical programs and research pipeline. We established a new, premium in vivo gene editing collaboration with Novartis focused on gene insertion for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, and we added $125 million to our balance sheet to fortify the company and extend our cash runway. We also published the first non-human primate proof of concept data supporting further development of our HBV in vivo gene editing program and made significant progress on our partnered programs with Lilly and Novartis involving complex gene edits such as excision and gene insertion,” said Michael Amoroso, President and Chief Executive Officer of Precision BioSciences.
“We made meaningful clinical, manufacturing and regulatory progress on our allogeneic CAR T programs. From a clinical perspective, in the latest cohort of our Phase 1b clinical study reported in mid-2022, azercabtagene zapreleucel (azer-cel; PBCAR0191) achieved a 100% overall response rate and 73% complete response to treatment.1 In addition, we implemented process optimizations for our allogeneic CAR T manufacturing process, significantly improving product attributes that we believe are correlated with improved efficacy and safety, and concluded the year with favorable FDA feedback signaling alignment with our proposed CMC plan for azer-cel, our lead clinical candidate.”
Today, Precision announced its key priorities and planned upcoming milestones for 2023, including:
1. Progress azer-cel to decision point for Phase 2 trial in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subjects who have relapsed following autologous CAR T treatment.
Complete Phase 1b cohort for azer-cel to determine final dosing schedule; request FDA clinical meeting pending data.
Complete Phase 1 dose escalation for PBCAR19B in the earlier line NHL setting.
Present CAR T clinical update in the first quarter of 2023, based on patient accrual and follow-up.
2. Advance wholly owned PBGENE-HBV in vivo program to final clinical candidate enabling target CTA and/or IND filing in 2024.
Data published in 2022 demonstrates that ARCUS efficiently targeted and degraded hepatitis B virus (HBV) cccDNA by 85% and durably reduced expression of HBV S-antigen by 77% in HBV-infected primary human hepatocytes (PHH). Importantly, optimized specificity of the ARCUS nuclease completely prevented detectable chromosomal translocations in the PHH model.
Using lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery, ARCUS nucleases showed high on-target editing and a robust decrease in viral DNA in both mouse and non-human primate models, along with 96% sustained reduction of HBV S-antigen in mice.
The Company plans to present additional data at a scientific conference in 2023.
3. Advance first ARCUS in vivo gene editing program to clinical readiness.
In partnership with iECURE, an ARCUS-mediated gene insertion approach is being pursued as a potential treatment for neonatal onset ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency.
Non-human primate data presented by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program demonstrated sustained gene insertion of a therapeutic OTC transgene one-year post-dosing in newborn and infant non-human primates with high efficiency.
iECURE targeting to file CTA and/or IND in second half of 2023.
4. Progress key partnered programs toward IND, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and sickle cell disease.
Through partnerships with Novartis and Lilly, the versatility of ARCUS is highlighted for complex editing and gene insertion in diverse tissues, including muscle and hematopoietic stem cells.
Joint teams continue to make significant progress against preclinical objectives.
5. Extend cash runway.
Although it has not finalized its full financial results, Precision expects to report it had approximately $190 million in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2022. The Company’s management also believes that, as of January 9, 2023, the Company’s existing cash and cash equivalents, expected operational receipts, and available credit will be sufficient to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2025.
In Vivo Gene Editing Strategy Update:
The strategic prioritization exercise for Precision’s in vivo research pipeline, announced during the Company’s third quarter earnings, is ongoing to assess diseases with highest unmet need in an increasingly dynamic regulatory and competitive gene editing landscape.
“The Precision team, along with its partners, have generated an abundance of preclinical data in 2022 and had significant learnings,” said Derek Jantz, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer. “The Precision team along with partners continue to validate unique features of the ARCUS platform with regards to safety, on-target editing, gene insertion, complex gene edits, and compatibility with viral and non-viral delivery. We remain very excited about Precision's proprietary and foundational ARCUS platform and are steadfast about moving the first ARCUS in vivo gene editing program into the clinic as rapidly as possible.”
“Our HBV program remains a top priority, and we are on track with our original goal of submitting a CTA and/or IND in 2024. We look forward to providing periodic updates on the team's progress. In addition, in our partner’s hands at iECURE, operational progress has been made on a first gene insertion program and the CTA filing for neonatal onset OTC deficiency is planned for submission this year,” said Dr. Jantz.
As a result of the ongoing prioritization, the Company is making trade-offs and further honing its focus on disease areas where the Company believes ARCUS, more than any other technology, can have the greatest and most profound impact. While the Company will continue to pursue gene knock-out programs opportunistically, the proof of concept data continues to lead toward prioritizing programs involving complex edits, as with the HBV and DMD programs, and gene insertion (adding a functional copy of a gene) as exemplified by our partnered OTC program.
While Precision remains committed to patients with cardiovascular diseases, it has made the decision to cease pursuit of PBGENE-PCSK9 for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) with iECURE as its partner. PCSK9 for FH remains a wholly-owned program, and the Company is monitoring the regulatory landscape as it considers FH as well as several potential cardiovascular disease indications in its pipeline prioritization exercise. A more robust plan for development of Precision’s in vivo pipeline, including research milestones, will be outlined at an R&D Day in mid-2023.
Finally, work on the PBGENE-PH1 program progressed as planned in 2022. Precision has clinical candidates ready to proceed to the next stage of IND enabling studies. Based on Precision’s new prioritized focus as well as the evolving treatment paradigm for PH1, the Company has made the choice to look for a partner in the kidney disease arena for further development of PBGENE-PH1 and will no longer develop the program on its own.
Singular Genomics Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMIC), a company leveraging novel next-generation sequencing (NGS) and multiomics technologies to empower researchers and clinicians, today announced instrument shipments and preliminary unaudited fourth quarter 2022 revenue.
The company shipped five G4 instruments through December 31, 2022 and recognized approximately $700 thousand in preliminary unaudited revenue during the fourth quarter 2022 for those instruments that met revenue recognition criteria.
“We are pleased to have finished the year on a strong note. We executed to our plan in Q4, shipping several G4 systems which are now installed and running in customer labs,” said Drew Spaventa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “In 2023, we will remain focused on scaling production of G4 instruments, expanding our customer base, and advancing development of our product roadmap.”
Study met both co-primary endpoints with robust immune responses
COVAXIN™ was found to be well-tolerated in vaccine-naïve individuals and in individuals previously vaccinated with mRNA vaccines in the United States (U.S.), with no vaccine-related serious adverse events, thrombotic events, or cases of myocarditis or pericarditis
These data add to the body of evidence that COVAXIN™, an adjuvated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus inactivated vaccine, has been demonstrated to be well-tolerated and effective against COVID-19 disease
Akoya Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKYA) (“Akoya”), The Spatial Biology Company®, today announced preliminary unaudited revenue for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.
Akoya reported the following preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022, which remain subject to quarter end closing adjustments:
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022 is expected to be between $20.7 million and $21.2 million, as compared to $16.2 million for the corresponding quarter of last year
For the fiscal year of 2022, revenue is expected to be between $74.3 million and $74.8 million, as compared to $54.9 million for fiscal year 2021
