No masks, no money!
A “military and security consulting” firm that failed to fulfill a promise to ship COVID masks to New York at the peak of the pandemic is being sued by New York City for return of a failed $15 million contract.
The Colorado-based company was desperate to hold on to some of the contract money it received up front, and tried to deceive the city and hide its assets by changing its name just days after a judgment was entered against it in September, the lawsuit said.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration signed a $15 million contract with the consulting and logistics firm, then called Siege International, on April 3, 2020, during the dark days of the pandemic when COVID-19 claimed thousands of lives.
The contract calls for the company to deliver 5 million N95 masks by May 1, with half of the contract, roughly $7.5 million, being paid up front to help expedite delivery of badly needed supplies to first responders and medical workers.
But Siege missed the first $1 million deadline and, in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit, alleges it also missed the next $5 million deadline.
According to court documents, only 800,000 masks have been delivered to New York, with the remaining 1.7 million masks that were paid for but are still missing.
But Mr. Seege has repeatedly refused to return taxpayer money to the East Coast.
The city even offered to avoid legal proceedings and simply terminate the contract, which collapsed in July 2020, if the company, which touts its “asset protection” services on its website, would refund the cost of the undelivered masks — a total of $5,112,337.20 in taxpayer money.
“Siege International declined the offer,” the lawsuit states.
“When contractors take millions of taxpayer dollars and fail to deliver as contracted, we hold them accountable,” a city Law Department spokesman said in a statement Wednesday.
“The City’s Contract Dispute Resolution Board has determined that Seege International breached its contract to deliver millions of N95 masks to the City during the pandemic. It is now time for Seege to pay what it owes the City.”
Siege describes itself as a “military and security company,” and its website past and present includes “Bourne Identity”-style videos of military soldiers jumping out of helicopters and racing across the tundra on white snowmobiles.
“Consulting, training, operations, etc.” On the current website Beneath the strategic sizzle reel is the message: “What you see here is delivered directly to you.”
Siege’s president, David Oskarko, is also named in the lawsuit. He told The New York Times in December 2020 He said paying the money back to the city would bankrupt his company.
He has since resisted the city’s efforts to return the funds, filing at least three petitions and taking legal action to not return $5 million in taxpayer money, according to court documents.
After the city’s Contract Dispute Resolution Board ruled in September that Seege and Oscarco must refund the city for undelivered prepaid masks, the company suddenly disappeared, along with millions of masks that had been promised.
But their techniques couldn’t fool the city’s Law Department or the city’s tenacious and mysterious Department of Administrative Services.
A few days later, Oscarko and Seej re-emerged as the Kanam Group, setting up a new website filled with the same texts and videos that had appeared on Seej’s page, in an apparent attempt to “fraudulently transfer” the property, city officials said.
“Siege International and/or its employees and/or officers attempted to conceal assets formerly owned by Siege International by changing the registered name of Siege to Kanam Group,” the complaint states. “Siege International knew that it would not be able to repay the debts owed to the City prior to transferring the assets to Kanam Group and/or Siege and/or David Oskarko.”
The city is seeking repayment of the $5 million in back debt, plus statutory interest.
The Post reached out to Oskarko and the Canam Group for comment but did not receive a response.
