JCOPE announces settlements with 17 state officers and employees for failing to file annual financial disclosure statements

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics announced settlements today with 17 state officers and employees from various state agencies and entities for failing to file required annual financial disclosure statements.

The settlements, with fines ranging from $200 to $600, and totaling $4,400, required the officers and employees first file any financial disclosure statement that remained outstanding. A number of those who settled had not filed financial disclosure statements for several years.

"These annual disclosures are a core responsibility for those in key state positions," said JCOPE Executive Director Letizia Tagliafierro. "These duties are not optional, and the commission will ensure that this basic obligation is complied with by those vested with the public trust."

State officers and employees deemed to be policymakers by their agency, or who make more than the job rate of SG-24 ($90,020 in 2014), are required to file financial disclosure statements each year, as are the statewide elected officials, members and certain employees of the Legislature, candidates for state office and certain political party chairs.

Financial disclosure statements require disclosure of an individual's outside activities, income earned from entities other than the state, and investment holdings and debts, among other items. Disclosures filed by statewide elected officials and members of the Legislature are available on the commission's website here, and all disclosures are available upon request.

More than 25,000 financial disclosures are filed with the commission each year.

Under law, individuals who are required to file annual disclosures, but fail to do so or file a deficient disclosure, are first notified of their failure to file or deficiency and granted an opportunity to cure. Subsequent failure to file or to cure the deficiency results in a formal notice of delinquency initiating an enforcement action by the commission. The settlements announced today close those enforcement actions.

Copies of the settlements announced today are available here.