Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) today praised the NYS Department of Financial Services (DFS) for successfully enforcing the law against a multi-national bank and urged that the $3 billion settlement be used not for short-term budget fixes but projects that are long-term investments in New York’s future.
“We should invest the $3 billion dollars in open space and parkland, in New York’s infrastructure and in the new Tappan Zee Bridge,” said the Westchester Assemblyman. “We should not squander this huge sum on inappropriate one shots but instead we should fund projects that will give New Yorkers long term benefits.”
Assemblyman Abinanti said that the one-time $3 billion bank settlement should be invested, in equal parts, to acquire open space and parklands ($1b), restore New York’s aging infrastructure ($1b) and fund part of the Tappan Zee Bridge ($1b). He noted that the one-time $3 billion bank settlement eliminates the need to raid the Clean Water Fund to provide short-term financing for the new Tappan Zee Bridge.
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New York will receive more than $3 billion from the $9 billion French bank BNP Paribas SA will pay after pleading guilty for violating sanctions on transferring money to Iran, Sudan and Cuba. The penalty is a record sum for a bank accused of doing business with countries that face United States sanctions.
