
New York City’s highest-earning official is a debt collector - Benlights
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-confessions-of-judgment-millionaire-marshal/
======
JumpCrisscross
> _In an archaic system dating to colonial New Amsterdam, he’s one of 35
> mayoral appointees who compete for fees recovering debts. Marshals mostly
> evict tenants and tow cars, but Barbarovich and a few others have become
> cogs in a debt-collection machine that has crushed thousands of small
> businesses. They use their legal authority on behalf of lenders who charge
> more than some mafia loan sharks once did._

This needs to be fixed. Just e-mailed my City Council member, who is also the
body's Speaker.

Irritated on so many levels. He is a public employee. He is abusing New York
City's status as a financial hub. He's cramming garbage into our city's
stretched judicial system, garbage protecting economic activity occuring
pretty much wholly outside our city.

> _In June, Biegel faxed an order demanding money to a bank in Elmira, New
> York, 173 miles northwest of the city. He claimed that a state court had
> entered a judgment against a plumber named Orion Megivern. That wasn’t the
> case. The lender had tried to enter a confession of judgment at a clerk’s
> office in Staten Island, but the clerk there hadn’t yet acted on the
> application_

That's wire fraud!

~~~
barry-cotter
It’s only wire fraud if you’re a private citizen. If you’re a government
employee it’s an honest and excusable mistake.

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forapurpose
This is better than many U.S. states, where the highest-earning public
employee is a football coach.

But let's also consider that in private industry, a great many people in
finance make more money than almost every professor. In almost every major
sport, a backup professional athlete makes more money than the U.S. general in
charge of security and of every military asset and operation in the entire
Mideast. How many professions make more than doctors who save lives daily?
Than teachers?

The issue is that the current labor marketplace does not allocate resources to
those who provide the most benefit to society.

EDIT: Added the last 2 paragraphs

~~~
prklmn
I'd love to hear your rationale on that.

~~~
forapurpose
> I'd love to hear your rationale on that.

I'm not sure what you are asking for: Evidence for the third paragraph? That's
in the first two paragraphs. My economic theory of why the labor market works
out that way?

~~~
prklmn
Saw your comment before the edit. I think you’d have a difficult time
convincing just about anyone that a publicly employed loan shark debt
collector adds more value to society than a highly paid football coach.

~~~
forapurpose
Ah, that makes sense. Well, I'd argue that the football coach adds zero to
society - someone else could do the job and society would be unchanged. A more
productive football coach only increases demand for productive football
coaches.

But some people produce even less that that ...

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sctb
Related discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18560153](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18560153).

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rv-de
Is it to obvious or why is nobody expressing amusement upon the man's apt
first name against the backdrop of the barbarism of what he calls his
profession?

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tooltalk
It's not too surprising for a city where a policeman can make $150k (base and
overtime) year just after 8 years in service.

~~~
walru
If officers who put their life on the line in the most populated/congested
city for 150k are overpaid, then I'd like to talk to some software developers
in San Francisco.

~~~
zjaffee
Yes, because there are thousands of people who'd happily take their job at 60k
and are just as qualified to do so.

~~~
walru
And live in NYC? That's poverty level.

~~~
astura
I really wish people would stop abusing the word "poverty" until it has no
meaning.

$60k is not poverty in New York City. I know many families who live there,
100% of them make under $60k/family/year.

~~~
csomar
Probably renting outside of Manhattan. In Jersey. And commuting for 2-3 hours
per day. That might not be poverty but it is suffering.

~~~
astura
Stop.

No they don't live in Jersey, otherwise I would have said so. The demographics
show is not remotely unusual.

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sol_remmy
I met an underwriter through synagogue who works at the predatory lending
office mentioned in this article (Queen Funding LLC). I will have a talk with
him about this..

~~~
dba7dba
Your friend will nod in agreement, but nothing will change. He went into the
firm and is staying on mostly likely knowing what is going on, because the pay
is too good.

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victor106
I am surprised New York still has such archaiac laws. Being a progressive
state and city I would have expected these kind of laws to be modified.

~~~
cronix
Generally, the older the city, the more outdated and archaic laws they have on
the books. Here are some interesting ones/quotes:

> “They go back to the 1700s,” he explained. “They were designed really to
> encourage and reinforce church attendance and they originally covered all
> sorts of behaviors . . . no playing games, no sports, no sex. Back in the
> day, George Washington almost got arrested for traveling on Sunday.”[1]

> “It’s easy to pass laws regulating people’s behavior,” he said. “It is very
> difficult to repeal those laws.”[1]

> A license must be purchased before hanging clothes on a clothesline[1]

> it is illegal to walk around on Sunday with an ice cream in your pocket.[2]

> it is illegal to have two or more people gather together in public while
> each wearing any sort of disguise or mask[2]

> A man cannot go in public wearing non-matching pants and jacket.[2]

> it's illegal to wear your slippers after 10pm[2]

> While riding in an elevator, one must talk to no one, and fold his hands
> while looking toward the door[2]

[1] [https://nypost.com/2016/06/19/new-york-citys-most-
ridiculous...](https://nypost.com/2016/06/19/new-york-citys-most-ridiculous-
laws/)

[2] [http://981thehawk.com/10-completely-bizarre-new-york-
state-l...](http://981thehawk.com/10-completely-bizarre-new-york-state-laws/)

~~~
jcranmer
Are those laws actually on the books? Searching the laws of New York, I've
been unable to actually find any of these supposed laws, and nearly everytime
this comes up, the only citation for these laws still existing is other lists
of crazy/insane/weird laws, with no one actually giving a specific reference
to the law.

Edit: Actually, I did find a reference for one of the saner "weird laws": PEN
§ 240.35 paragraph 4 does define "Being masked or in any manner disguised by
unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration, loiters, remains or
congregates in a public place with other persons so masked or disguised, or
knowingly permits or aids persons so masked or disguised to congregate in a
public place; except that such conduct is not unlawful when it occurs in
connection with a masquerade party or like entertainment if, when such
entertainment is held in a city which has promulgated regulations in
connection with such affairs, permission is first obtained from the police or
other appropriate authorities" as loitering.

~~~
slededit
With the advent of regulatory law the legal codes are no longer the full
story. It’s quite possible they are decisions of a regulatory body which will
not show up in statute.

~~~
jcranmer
Even if it's supposed to be a regulation (which, given the claim that these
are really old laws still on the books, is unlikely), regulations are still
public, citable documents that are relatively easy to track down.

~~~
StanislavPetrov
Public and online are two different and unrelated things. Regulations that are
dozens or hundreds of years old aren't easy to track down. Many large counties
and towns here in New York don't have _any_ of their records or regulations
online at all. I recently had to go down to my (NY) town's city hall and pay
with a paper check (the only accepted form of payment) to get a copy of my
original land survey.

~~~
jcranmer
Here is a link to the code of NYC that took me about 30 seconds to track down:
[http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/New%20York/admin/...](http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/New%20York/admin/newyorkcityadministrativecode?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:newyork_ny)
(I went via [https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/4080/nyc-
charter-...](https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/4080/nyc-charter-laws-
codes-and-rules)). Even my dinky little town in Massachusetts has a PDF of all
of its regulations.

Again, note that many of the apocryphal stories about "weird laws still on the
books" refer not to small cities, but the kind of large, old cities whose laws
are easily accessible via the web.

~~~
StanislavPetrov
The umbrella code of NYC is only a fraction of the regulations and codes that
are on the books in every borough, town, municipality and numerous agencies in
NYC.

[https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/newyork-in-depth/local-
gove...](https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/newyork-in-depth/local-governments)

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TACIXAT
Unpopular opinion, but I really respect this profession and people making the
most of their circumstances. My girlfriend had a shitty landlord that withheld
her deposit. She won in small claims court. She had no way to get the money
after that. I have very little sympathy for people who owe a debt to be
collected upon. Especially when they've signed the papers allowing it.

Also good on this guy for increasing his income from 90k a year to 1m.

~~~
ceejayoz
I take it you missed the first article in the series?

> It’s like an arbitration agreement, except the borrower always loses. Armed
> with a confession, a lender can, without proof, accuse borrowers of not
> paying and legally seize their assets before they know what’s happened. Not
> surprisingly, some lenders have abused this power. In dozens of interviews
> and court pleadings, borrowers describe lenders who’ve forged documents,
> lied about how much they were owed, or fabricated defaults out of thin air.

> It said the Duncans had stopped making payments. That wasn’t true. The
> Duncans’ bank records show that Yellowstone had continued to get its daily
> $800 even after going to court. The company’s sworn statement also inflated
> the size of the couple’s debt.

These loans are like a slumlord requiring a "I confess to all future claims of
damage to the property, agree to not contest eviction, and will still pay the
entire year's rent if evicted" _before the lease starts_.

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75dvtwin
The only way to fight corruption, is to mercilessly reduce power of elected
officials, or the officials appointed by elected officials. Via the vote.

There is simply no other way.

A hope for a powerful yet fair political elite without a term limit -- is
analogous to believing that earth is flat.

These leaches will tell their voters, how they will 'fix things', and how the
'needy will be served', and how the unfair will be made fair, etc.

As long as they get the checkbook, the law enforcement and the media
'covering' for them.

There is little difference between the modern day enabled 'Progressive'
politician, and the old day racketeering Mafiosi.

Both wanted to control their 'sphere of influence' by very similar methods.
And both want their 'subjects' to be as powerless as possible (in both legal,
and self-defense senses)

Both use a form of assassination to scare the opponents (mafia chose physical,
and the progressive politicians go for the economic & character assassination
first ).

