Appearing in the president ’s Twitter mentions has , improbably , finally paid off for somebody : a random Silicon Valley - based electric engineer named Yaron Oren - Pines who score a $ 69.1 million contract bridge with the state of New York after he tweet at Trump , “ We can supply ICU Ventilators , trespassing and noninvasive . Have someone call me URGENT . ”
Per BuzzFeed News , Oren - Pines has only a smattering of followers on Twitter and seemingly lacks any setting in aesculapian engineering or administration contracting . Yet coronavirus - stricken New York give him $ 69.1 million on March 30 to furnish 1,450 ventilators to aesculapian centers throughout the state , or the exorbitant cost of $ 47,756 a unit . ( Congress is presently looking into a Union contract at the far humbled price of $ 15,000 a unit of measurement forpossible price gouging . ) Oren - Pines has not delivered a single one , the contract has been give the axe , and the DoS is still trying to recover at least a portion of its money . News of the contract seems to have been first dug upby the Times Union .
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1243654804099837952
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.Photo: Matthew Cavanaugh (Getty Images)
Oren - Pines got pay on March 30 , three daylight aftersending the replyto a Trump tweet demanding that General Motors give rise more breathing equipment , according to BuzzFeed . A state functionary told the site on background that “ The guy was recommend to us by the White House coronavirus chore force because they were doing business with him as well , ” though Union databases show no such contracts and the White House , the frailty prexy ’s office , and the Federal Emergency Management Agency all declined to point out to BuzzFeed .
https://gizmodo.com/fda-to-allow-emergency-use-of-experimental-drug-as-stud-1843160891
The deal was the New York Department of Health ’s single big contractual requital under anemergency orderby Governor Andrew Cuomo removing bureaucratic barrier in the state regime ’s procurement pipeline . That include private-enterprise summons and hanging of normal safeguards that would occur before the nation really transferred money , which seems to have recoil big sentence as it doled out around $ 735 million in contracts to secure desperately postulate medical cogwheel and equipment .
Of the 77 contracts of $ 1 million or more the section signed between March 19 and April 27 , fit in to BuzzFeed , the “ overwhelming majority ” were with companies whose core business are unrelated to medical supply Chain , including a Chinese iron ore distributor , a beauty ware business firm , private fairness goons , and Qatar ’s province - run foreign help stock . The Times - Union reported that as of April 20 , 22 of the 25 vendors who obtain the large payments had never before worked with the commonwealth regime .
Cuomo advisor Rich Azzopardi told the Times Union that 25 state functionary had been affect in vet the purchases and received referrals from the White House , the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. , and regional Chinese Departments of Commerce that had pre - existing business human relationship with New York . He also said about 10 per centum of the offers were actually pursued .
Other deals for breathing apparatus include a $ 116 million contract witha Brooklyn ventilator - letting companyfor 5,700 units that fell through , as well as a $ 32.3 million contract with a Tampa - based orthopedics supply firm , BuzzFeed wrote . However , nothing inOren - true pine ’ backgroundseems to indicate he ’d be a go - to cat for ventilators or any other medical equipment , with his sketch on LinkedIn including unrelated work at Google and magnetic computer store firm Crocus Technology . BuzzFeed write he also co - founded Legasus Networks ( which is now possibly inactive ) and a mobile phone consultancy called InCommon that lacks a public record trail .
The only hints include a Twitter visibility he ’s used totweet at the presidentand a mutual follow with Israeli entrepreneur Segev Binyamin , who BuzzFeed found had at around the same time pinch at an Israeli governing functionary : “ I own a Chinese company and have the ability to ship 1,400 machines . ” He declined to comment to BuzzFeed .
“ We had no selection but to overturn every rock to find ventilators and other needed equipment , ” Azzopardi told BuzzFeed . “ … state were push to fend for themselves to buy lifesaving supplies to combat a world pandemic and with all modeling evidence a more severe spread of this virus with more hospitalizations and more fatalities . ”
The New York Office of General Services secern BuzzFeed in a statement that the “ bulk ” of Oren - Pines ’ payout has already been “ reelect to the state . ”
Correction , 2025-02-19 at 10:15 p.m. : A prior version of this clause identified the $ 69 million mickle as the “ undivided largest contract bridge ” under Cuomo ’s order . It ’s actually the second bountiful deal , though it remain the individual largest payment . We regret the error .
Andrew CuomoCOVID-19Healthnew yorkPandemic
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