John Breyo, CEO/President, and founder of Ayco Co who later sold the company to Goldman Sachs Group won a multi-year lawsuit against the City of Saratoga Springs and their assessment of his home at 51 Winding Brook Drive and the surrounding 29-acre estate. Under the terms of the settlement, details of which were filed in the Supreme Court of Saratoga County on April 17, the home's new assessment will be $8.2 million, down from a $12.46 million assessment given in 2011.The City and the school district will reimburse him in over paid property taxes to the tune of one million dollars.
This officially ends a saga that began in 2007 as the secretive Breyo has fought the cities assessment given by Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner John Franck every year since.
Breyo’s house is listed as the eighth largest privately owned home by square footage in the United States. HERE Personally I find it has all the style of a mega drive in Funeral home in Palm Beach Florida. So who is John Breyo you ask?
Beginning with his involvement as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Breyo has been involved in some shady dealing. Under John Breyo's leadership SPAC consistently lost money while Breyo continued to increase the compensation of SPAC president Herb Chesbrough.
Chesbrough in turn hired Ayco to advise SPAC on investment policies, and investment vehicles, and in turn Breyo hired Chesbrough as a consultant for Ayco.
All of this started to unravel when SPAC’s endowment continued to lose money and Chesbrough tried to save money by eliminating the New York City Ballet. All hell broke loose as the sleeping public was rudely awakened to the possibility of losing our beloved ballet. New York State ordered an audit and Herb, John and the rest of the Board of SPAC was sent packing, but not without an obscene compensation package for Herb.
To further spit in the eye of the public after the unceremonious sacking of Herb Chesbrough and his own firing under a cloud of nefarious suspicion. Breyo created the Herb Chesbrough Scholarship in the Arts at Siena College,his Alma Mater and funded it with a $500,000 gift to the Loudonville School.
Breyo has also taken an interest in City Politics and fronted his friend and retired Ayco attorney Peter Martin's campaign in the cities Commissioner of Finance race in 2009 where he was narrowly defeated by Commissioner Ivins in his successful reelection bid. Martin was one of the attorneys who successfully negotiated the sale of Ayco Co to The Goldman Sachs Group, thereby making both wealthy men. Martin is said to be interested in running against Johnson in the next Mayoral race and I am sure Breyo will be standing right behind him. This is a man who is loyal to his friends.
Martin is often seen at City Council meeting and lives in his own mansion just off North Broadway.
In in case you think you would have nice neighbors in Breyo’s Beacon Hill subdivision his immediate neighbor is convicted felon David Silipigno.
In June 2009 federal agents armed with sealed search warrants raided the Broadway offices and several storage lockers around Saratoga County used by David B. Silipigno, a convicted felon, his business associates and their various companies.
Silipigno, who was convicted in another mortgage fraud scandal involving a Halfmoon company had avoided a 10-year prison sentence after more-or-less embezzling $5.6 million from his mortgage banking company before it dissolved and left nearly 400 people without work
Search warrant documents indicate the FBI's raids sought "evidence of conspiracy, loan origination fraud and false statements, mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud."
You can read much more on him HERE
No word if he will be seeking public office.
19 comments:
I would love to see a photo of Breyo. Has he ever contributed to local charities? Or ever attended local fund raisers?
John J. Breyo, Jr. '68
In an era marred by the excesses of corporate irresponsibility, John Breyo, a Siena graduate of 1968, stands as a constant exemplar that corporations can be managed to compete appropriately, compensate fairly, and contribute handsomely to their communities.
John, a native of Schenectady, NY, stood out quickly in his studies. He is an honor graduate of Linton High School and a member of their Hall of Fame. After graduating from high school john entered Siena College where he earned a B.B.A. in Accounting in 1968. From Siena he went on to Albany Law School where he received his Juris Doctor degree while graduating twelfth in his class. At Albany Law School he was one of four people ever honored as an Alumni in Residence.
In 1971 John participated in the creation of a new enterprise, Ayco, Inc. Ayco, founded on the belief that the tax code was becoming too complex for even the most knowledgeable of corporate executives, quickly gained a reputation for professionalism and competence. While unknown to most Americans, Ayco is the preferred provider of financial planning services to executives among many of the Fortune 500 corporations.
As the progenitor of Ayco's tax practice, the Encompass consulting practice, Ayco Asset Management, Ayco University, and many other innovations john has played a pivotal role in the growth of Ayco's business success. In 1986, John Breyo was named to the Office of the President.
In 1994, the company underwent a management buyout from American Express at which time Mr. Breyo became President of The Ayco Company, L.P. As a result of the buyout Mr. Breyo also became a major shareholder of The Ayco Company while structuring the new company to allow more direct employee ownership of the new enterprise. In 1997, Mr. John Breyo was named Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President.
In addition to guiding the Ayco companies through formation and growth, John has been an innovator in corporate philanthropy as well. The Ayco companies are recognized for their efforts in encouraging employees to give back to their communities and the schools that they attended. Under John's guidance Ayco established AycoCap, an early program aimed at encouraging employees to make planned gifts to their alma mater with a matching component provided by the company. He established a scholarship at Albany Law School, and recently, created one for Siena College with anticipated annual awards of $50,000.
John lives in Saratoga Springs with his wife Marilyn where he serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. John is a recipient of the William Golub Tikkun Olam Award for his humanitarian endeavors by the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York.
Today, Siena College honors John Breyo, Siena Class of 1968, as a beacon of corporate responsibility and community involvement with the degree of Doctor of Laws.
BARF.
BARF
It was a not a fair fight. The local assessment always loses in the court. If your not happy with your local assessment then sue - you will win so I have been told from local assessors - sure they will discourage you. It is a little secret to those in the know but you know if it is good enough for the GloFlo and Breyo of the world it should be good enough for the readers of Tighe.
Also Johnny boy - please keep Bacon Hill out of this neighborhood - this is all Saratoga Springs baby - if you want to live in the swamp (bog meadow) then get use to being with the swamp things. In Bacon Hill they shovel real manure not the stuff that you see in the Million Dollar Homes by the swamp.
(JT during your investigation did you notice how many homes in that neighborhood were abandoned (bank owned?) It always makes you feel good to see the homeless man living under the parking lot at Lillian's and to know that there are a number of abandon homes (most likely not paying taxes) out in the swamp. Just one of those homes could provide shelter to all the homeless and how many veterans that need shelter.
Good point.There were a lot of abandoned properties. these are of course the same people who are demanding more fire and police protection than they want all the other taxpayers to pay to protect their truly ugly homes.
Well at least we don't have to worry about what the "surplus" should be used for now...
Is Commissioner Madigan in the "loop" or just loopy?
On Monday SHE "finds" 1.5 Million bucks.(She forgets to thank the previous Council for successful stewardship of our money.)
On Wednesday, Oops!, the Lake Avenue Firehouse needs ANOTHER new floor. (How many so far?)
On Thursday, the City caves and agrees to "give back" a cool million to the owner of the highest assessed residential property north of Westchester County. (Nice precedent, maybe we will all get a 35% reduction in our assessed values)
Oh, by-the-way Commissioner, did you forget to calculate the legal fees incurred by the City in this dramatic loss?
I think it would be prudent to leave the new Police Station, the 6 new Police Officers, and the re-hiring of Lew Benton off your Agenda for Tuesday night.
Maybe next week you will "find" more money.
You will not prompt to me, where I can read about it?
Why isn't commissioner Franck taking heat for this fiasco? Once again he thinks he is smarter than anyone and wasted our city money to fight this in court. He is responsible for not budging on this assessment and once again we will pay. If there is blame and there is plenty it should land right on him. His grandstanding has cost the city more than once. He not only cost what the paper quoted in paybacks but the legal fees are substantial. Not to mention all the development opportunities for the city such as parking etc. Time to point the spot light on Franck and his terrible decision making.
The dollars were put into a trust from the initial action by Mr. Breyo so it is no cost to the city. I can't believe that home isn't worth $20 million. Legal fees are in his budget. As for the previous council you make a good point. Although the bulk of this surplus was created by increase in sales tax, mortgage tax revenue, increase in occupancy tax and overstating of spending by two major departments it was not created by cutting in the major departments. These are two separate and distinct situations. People were not sacrificed to create th esurplus. Increased revenue, new healthcare plan, reduction in interest rate on bonds headed up by Commissioner Ivins and several more actions yet the Council was the target of an unprofessional attack by someone who facked the history of how all of this came about. I assume if taxes are lowere dfor 2013 it will be because of a new program that has created the same increases. Give the previous Council and Commissioner Ivivns his due. He got the job done. I noticed we now have three ambulances. How were they paid for and what it voted on by the Council. Have we started billing yet. No revenue number given by the commissioner at last meeting. Maybe JY can check on the billing issue. Why is the County not calling Empire for 911 calls for Greenfield center which has an agreement eith Empire. No revenue and they will be gone in one year along with the rental income as well. Than the City will get 100% of the calls if the weary FF make it that far. What happened to the no brainer mandatory Drug Testing. This should happen ASAP and should not be a contract issue. very simple - no drug testing - no program. bring in Mohawk and give them the city. Than we can go back to fighting a half dozen fires a year and doing isnpections. The plan is coming together really nicely. We probably could use part of the dollars for a professionsl behavior course for Maddy and Eileen!!!! Maybe we should check with John Kauffman to see if he will investigate Public safety next??
3:37PM,might not be a bad idea..JT&JK=A Modern Day Holmes and Watson..SERIOUSLY..Looks like the loons will get the "City Manager"on the Ballot this fall,smart money is on no change,just what is it with Four Winds and "The saratoga citizen culttobia"and the believe we should be like Watertown New york...XXXXXXCCCCUUUUSSSSEEEE ME!
There tends to be a lot of office politics. Office is run by incompetent individuals who only appreciate you if you don't ask question.
There is a carrot that is being waved in front of your face at all times. Becoming an account manager is the holy grail. Unfortunately, becoming an account manager is not a reflection of your hard work, it's a reflection of whether your SVP cares about you or not. If you stay an FA, you will be paid less than your counterparts at other financial planning firms. You'll always be asked for excellence as a jack of all trades but get little in return. They account manager you work for can make or break you and if you're an attorney you have a huge leg up on those who are not. There's a buffer between you and your SVP who is supposed to guide you along in your career, but wait until you see how unimpressive they are. The problem stems from senior management, "pay them more" has always been the answer, but management couldn't care less. You know it's bad when at the Christmas parties your CEO has to combine the 401(k) match with the "bonus" (about $600) to make it look like they're rewarding you at the end of the year. Oh yeah, the 401(k) match is a little over 1%. I think the only thing that is comparable with other companies is the vacation time.
Former AYCO-er says.....
I worked for AYCO years ago 1984-1988 and was an FA in Encompass after one year in the Tax Dept. The first year I worked in the tax dept we were not paid overtime. My salary looked good but during tax season I was working two 40 hour a week jobs. They threw us a bone at the end of the season in the form of a small bonus. Year II, I was on a team and we got paid overtime for our tax hours but I was also a reviewer. I made sure the Tax analysts handled my team's client tax data correctly on input. THE 401k was whatever AMEX was at the time. Believe it or not I worked there long enough to get a small pension from what will now be Goldman Sachs. Just got the annual notice a few weeks ago.
I left for personal reasons. It had nothing to do with the work or my boss who was one of the Presidents. I was Barry H's FA at the time I left. I'm female and I will say Barry was tough but very fair and he gave me a lot of leeway to do things, including travel for tax data gathering sessions etc. I also had an awesome Staff Attorney I worked with too who promoted out to Chicago after Encompass downsized after the loss of a few big clients. But I wasn't going to ever make account manager with just a BS in Accounting/Finance and no JD. I didnt have an MBA and at the time an MBA was not a golden ticket to the AM position.
I actually found that the pay was better at AYCO then my prior position at Key Trust and when I finally got may act together AYCO paid better then the job I got as just a general accountant for a large insurer. I took about a $6000 pay cut back in 1990 from what I was making at AYCO when I left in August 1988. When I left that position in 1997 I was only about a grand higher in salary then what I left AYCO making.
I willsay this about Breyo.He could have built his mega mansion over the bridge and not paid any city taxes just the town of Saratoga which is a hell of a lot cheaper.Tom McTygue did that twenty years ago.
Yet another great job of investigative reporting. Thanks, John.
Uh, The Town of Saratoga is 2x the taxes of the city and you get less for them!! For the record
If the city had simply asked Sonny, they would have known why they got the assessment wrong... The job was completed under budget.
http://www.bonacio.com/testimonials-0
John and Marilyn lived in a tiny house in Colonie for years. They musta just gone nuts When they built this palace. And I bet that they regret all the conflict. Marilyn's aunt worked for me. Yes, she worked a boring desk job. A great lady. Also, I remember a local music festival that was out of money. John wrote a big check and said "rock on". He did it again the next year. I don't like bloated houses either. But even at the "reduced" assessment, he's paying more school taxes than 30 average homes and not sending a single kid to school. Thank you John Breyo, for funding our schools.
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