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CEO of NYC migrant service provider DocGo resigns following report he falsified background
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Sep 16, 2023
Modified Sep 16, 2023
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DocGo
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Sep 16, 2023
Modified Sep 16, 2023
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The CEO of a medical services provider with a $432 million, no-bid contract with the city to house and care for migrants abruptly resigned Friday following a report that he lied about having a graduate degree from Clarkson University.
A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Anthony Capone resigned as CEO of DocGo “effective immediately” on Friday.
The filing cited “personal reasons” for his departure, one day after the Albany Times Union reported that Clarkson had no record of Capone attending the school where he claimed to have earned a graduate degree — including in assertions he made to investors last month. Capone told investors that he had a degree in “computational learning theory, which is a subset of artificial intelligence,” according to the paper, which also first reported Capone’s departure.
Lee Bienstock, DocGo’s chief operating officer and company president, has stepped into the CEO role, the filing reads. DocGo spokesperson Michael Padovano said the company was “grateful” for Capone’s leadership “throughout his tenure.”
“[Bienstock] has assumed the role of CEO, and we have full confidence in his ability to lead the company forward,” Padovano said in a statement. “We remain committed to our mission of delivering high quality, highly accessible healthcare for all.”
The company is embroiled in a dispute between Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and city Comptroller Brad Lander, who earlier this month rejected the $432 million no-bid contract for housing migrants in the city and across the state.
In a Sept. 5 letter to Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr., Lander cited “numerous outstanding issues and concerns” with the contract, including an apparent lack of expertise and the city’s insufficient justification for the price tag.
“After thorough review, we are returning the contract to HPD and encouraging them to reconsider whether this vendor is appropriate for the services described,” Lander said in a statement in early September.
DocGo is a medical services provider that saw boom times during the pandemic. Lander said the firm provided contradictory financial information and had little experience as a “logistics company, social services provider, or legal service provider.”
Lander added that while it was not part of his office’s review, some of Capone’s statements to investors about the migrant contract were concerning, including reporting in the Times Union that Capone said DocGo contracted with the city to provide migrant services ‘in large part, because it gave us all of the credibility to win the [$4 billion] Border Patrol’ contract” with the federal government.
“The CEO seems eager to capitalize on the fact that the longer asylum seekers remain in their care, the more the company's revenue will grow under this contract,” Lander wrote in his letter.
Adams dismissed Lander’s concerns as political grandstanding and said the city would move forward with the DocGo agreement.
“We can't change the rules in the middle of the game,” Adams said when asked about the contract at an unrelated press conference in early September.
He added: “I think the comptroller probably saw an opportunity to just get in the conversation.”
The emergency contract, which took effect in May, covers several services for recent migrants, including housing them in hotels north of the city. The company had previously contracted with the city to provide Covid testing and vaccination services.
The New York Times reported this summer on the DocGo contract and issues relayed by migrants who received services through the company. Among the problems cited in the report were guards hired by DocGo threatening migrants and a lack of coordination by the company with service providers. Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation into the DocGo following the Times report.
Spokespeople for the comptroller and the mayor’s office did not immediately return requests for comment Saturday.
This story has been updated with comment from DocGo.
Tagged
new york city
Asylum Seekers
brad lander
Politics
eric adams
Michelle Bocanegra
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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