An alleged $637 million pay-to-play scam involving Gov. Hochul is the subject of a new lawsuit from a New Jersey business that claims Albany unfairly withheld new business from it.
The Department of Health is accused of breaking its own contract regulations by agreeing to a deal for quick COVID-19 tests last spring and then opening up the bidding to other companies that couldn’t provide comparable products, according to Dayton, New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets.
Following the filing of the complaint in Albany County state Supreme Court, business spokesman John Gallagher told The Post, “Digital Gadgets brought this litigation to ensure the state constantly complies with the standards they established along with the bid process.
The lawsuit claims that state officials repeatedly refused requests for an explanation of why Digital Gadgets was not granted concessions to provide more rapid tests after delivering millions between December 2021 and March of this year, as New York struggled with an Omicron variant-driven spike in cases.
The business claims that the state altered the bid specifications in order to favor other businesses.
According to Gallagher, “The DOH is preventing Digital Gadgets from proving that they are the only bidder that satisfies the requirements specified in the invitation to bid and that the winning bidders do not meet those requirements.”
“Digital Gadgets is subject to the same recourse process that would be required of any other bidder.”
The ongoing legal dispute was originally reported by WSKG radio in Binghamton, but representatives for the department and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who is also listed in the lawsuit, declined to comment on it on Thursday.
According to the case, Digital Gadgets asks the court to decide that the state broke its own rules, give it court costs, and grant it “additional remedies as the court considers just and proper.”
The complaint is an ironic turn for the corporation, which received $637 million in no-bid contracts when Hochul suspended standard contract regulations in late 2021 and proclaimed a state of emergency as COVID-19 cases increased.
Digital Gadgets paid New York nearly twice as much for the same testing as states like California, while firm founder Charlie Tebele and his family donated over $300,000 to Hochul’s reelection campaign.
A string of donor issues pulled down Hochul’s campaign against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk), who came closer to winning a statewide contest than any GOP nominee in two decades. Tebele and Hochul have both denied any misconduct.
Michael Lawler, an incoming congressman and assemblyman, joked on Twitter on Thursday, “Looking forward to the discovery in this case, starting with any conversations between Digital Gadgets and the Hochul campaign.”
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