{"id":497368,"date":"2022-10-01T03:33:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T00:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/hochul-meets-with-rovt-who-had-hospitals-bailed-out-by-state\/"},"modified":"2022-10-01T03:33:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T00:33:59","slug":"hochul-meets-with-rovt-who-had-hospitals-bailed-out-by-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hochul-meets-with-rovt-who-had-hospitals-bailed-out-by-state\/","title":{"rendered":"#Hochul meets with Rovt who had hospitals bailed out by state"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407e981bbd9\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407e981bbd9\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hochul-meets-with-rovt-who-had-hospitals-bailed-out-by-state\/#%E2%80%9CHochul_meets_with_Rovt_who_had_hospitals_bailed_out_by_state%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Hochul meets with Rovt who had hospitals bailed out by state&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CHochul_meets_with_Rovt_who_had_hospitals_bailed_out_by_state%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Hochul meets with Rovt who had hospitals bailed out by state&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a secret meeting this week at the Upper East Side townhouse of Alexander Rovt \u2014 a billionaire mega-donor to her campaign whose hospital network was bailed out by the state in April.<\/p>\n<p>A source provided The Post a video of Hochul \u2014 who is already under fire over accusations of pay to play campaign donations involving an overpriced, no-bid $637 million COVID test contract \u2014 entering Rovt\u2019s mansion on East 68th Street Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Rovt, 70, is chairman of the board of One Brooklyn Health Systems Inc., which runs a network of medical facilities where the coronavirus reportedly ran wild during the first, deadly wave of the pandemic. <\/p>\n<p>Its hospitals include the financially distressed Interfaith Medical Center, Kingsbrook and Brookdale.<\/p>\n<p>The state budget \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roved by Hochul and the legislature in April \u2014 pumped $1.7 billion into a network of \u201cfinancially distressed\u201d hospitals that include Rovt\u2019s One Brooklyn system.<\/p>\n<p>State campaign finance records show Rovt and his wife, Olga, donated the maximum $139,400 to Hochul\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>She is facing off against Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor, in a bid to remain New York\u2019s chief executive after taking over when Andrew Cuomo resigned last year in a sexual harassment and misconduct scandal.  <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-349.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Gov. Kathy Hochul, under fire for pay to play donations involving a $676 million COVID test kit contract, was seen walking into the Upper East Side townhouse of billionaire industrialist and real estate mogul Alexander Rovt.\" class=\"wp-image-24083418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-349.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-349.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-349.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Gov. Kathy Hochul was seen walking into the Upper East Side townhouse of billionaire industrialist and real estate mogul Alexander Rovt.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rovt has also had ownership interests in the Optima Care Smithtown nursing home, and a home health care agency, Prime Health Choice, where he serves on the board. He sought and won state approvals for nursing homes from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s administration in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a business proposal at play, hatched by the Hochul administration, that could aid hospitals linked to Rovt.<\/p>\n<p>In July, the state Health Department told NY Presbyterian Weill-Cornell it would only grant approval of a new $8.4 million heart transplant center in Manhattan if the hospital formed a partnership with Rovt\u2019s One Brooklyn system, or another operator, to provide $50 million in primary health care in Brooklyn and Queens, the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.empirecenter.org\/publications\/the-state-puts-a-pricey-condition\/\">Empire Center for Public Policy<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe would be an extremely valuable person for anybody in the health care industry to know and have a relationship with,\u201d Empire Center\u2019s health analyst Bill Hammond said of Hochul.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"829\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?w=829\" alt=\"Hochul\" class=\"wp-image-24083417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1658 1658w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1244 1243w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=829 829w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=415 414w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-348.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 829px) 100vw, 829px\"\/><figcaption>Hochul has been under fire for pay to play donations. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Daily Beast wrote<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/this-fertilizer-king-funneled-cuomo-dollar1-million-and-got-a-new-york-health-care-empire?ref=scroll\"> in a 2021 expose<\/a> of Rovt\u2019s business dealings during the COVID-19 outbreak: \u201cThe vast domain Rovt built with his state contracts, grants, and approvals were the scene of some of the outbreak\u2019s worst carnage.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian native, who made a killing selling fertilizer in the old Soviet Union, has already maxed out in giving donations to Hochul alongside his wife \u2014 with the couple giving a total $139,400 to her campaign.<\/p>\n<p>He is an active philanthropist, particularly involving Jewish causes. He had relatives who died in the Holocaust. A source involved in a charity who met Rovt in his office said he was accompanied by an armed private security guard.<\/p>\n<p>The mogul owns at least 30 properties in New York and owns the IBE Trade Corp as well as a trophy property at Bankers Trust building at 14 Wall St., a 37-story building that he bought with cash 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The mogul bought another property on East 63 Street in 2005, which Forbes magazine called his \u201cMan Cave.\u201d He gutted the place and rebuilt it with reinforced concrete with brick facing and retractable bulletproof shades covering the windows. It also included a cigar room, 12 bathrooms and solid 14-karat gold fixtures in the master bath.<\/p>\n<p>He later sold it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"606\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?w=606\" alt=\"Gov. Kathy Hochul walks into apartment building\" class=\"wp-image-24083419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1212 1212w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=908 909w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=606 606w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=303 303w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-350.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><figcaption>Rovt and his wife, Olga, donated the maximum $139,400 to Hochul\u2019s campaign.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The couple has donated more than $2 million to candidates over the years \u2014 including Donald Trump, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton and hundreds of thousands of dollars to the New York State Democratic Committee \u2014 and even bad boys like ex-congressman Anthony Weiner and former councilman Hiram Monserrate. <\/p>\n<p>Rovt\u2019s also a big donor to troubled Maimonides Medical Center\u2019s heart and vascular institute.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Beast said Cuomo\u2019s campaign account received $1 million alone when factoring in donations from Rovt\u2019s associates and companies.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"622\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?w=622\" alt=\"Hochul walks into apartment building\" class=\"wp-image-24083421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1244 1244w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=932 933w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=622 622w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=311 311w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-351.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px\"\/><figcaption>Rovt has been a donor for both Hochul and Cuomo. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another recipient of his financial largess \u2013 the felonious ex-state Sen. Carl Kruger \u2013 even had the upper chamber of the state Legislature <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nysenate.gov\/legislation\/resolutions\/2009\/j2148\">pass a resolution<\/a> in his honor in 2009, just months after $9,500 of Rovt cash landed in his campaign war chest.<\/p>\n<p>Hochul\u2019s campaign and government office remained mum Friday on her visit to Rovt\u2019s townhouse, declining repeated requests for comment on the purpose of the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Rovt also declined a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Rovt was born in Carpathia, a western region of Ukraine that been claimed at different times by the Hungarians, the Nazis, and then the Soviets. He identifies as a Carpathian.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Additional reporting by Bruce Golding<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/30\/hochul-meets-with-rovt-who-had-hospitals-bailed-out-by-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Hochul meets with Rovt who had hospitals bailed out by state&#8221; Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a secret meeting this week at the Upper East Side townhouse of Alexander Rovt \u2014 a billionaire mega-donor to her campaign whose hospital network was bailed out by the state in April. A source provided The Post a video of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":497369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/hochul-mansion-comp.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[133762,71127,70344,106581,70423,98806,94363,42160,120495],"class_list":["post-497368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-9-30-22","tag-campaign-contributions","tag-coronavirus-in-ny","tag-home-care","tag-hospitals","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-lee-zeldin","tag-nursing-homes","tag-ny-governors-race-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}