A College of State Island (CSI) professor has been fined $65,000 for steering the school to purchase research software from a company he owns, the New York Daily News reported.
Yasha Yi, CSI assistant physics professor, agreed to pay a $20,000 fine on top of paying back the $44,831 he swayed the school to spend on his company, 3G Institute of Renewable Energy Inc.
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics found that Yi violated a state law when sent a memo saying 3G was the only company "that can meet the requirements for our research" without also including that he is the president of that company.
Commission chairman Daniel J. Horwitz told the Staten Island Advance that Yi's conduct "was in direct conflict with his duties as a public employee."
Yi violated a policy against state employees being paid more than $1,000 in contracting decisions.
"By his actions, he violated the state ethics law and he violated the public's trust," Horwitz said.
In the summer of 2011, Yi said he needed to purchase a high-performance illumination simulation tool that he needed for renewable energy research at CSI. In the fall, he submitted a memo to the City University of New York and the state Dormitory Authority saying only 3G could supply the software.
The state paid 3G $44,831 for the software in 2012.
Yi said he did not know he had to specify his relationship to the company, but ultimately agreed that he should have been upfront from the beginning and agreed to the settlement. However, he still said he believes he had a point.
"If you don't have any relationship, you don't know how a company is doing," he said. "I know this simulation tool is very good, and I know that no other company can provide the same kind of product."
According to SeeThroughNY.net, a website that posts state employees' salaries, Yi earned $73,875 in 2012.
CSI spokesman Ken Bach said, "As this is a personnel matter, the college is unable to comment further."