2325 COM Cover Letter re Zinnia Health Objection w Exs

Ms. Diana Chandler, Zoning Board of Adjustment Secretary February 3, 2025 Page 2 Jersey 07032 (the “Kearny Facility”). The Whistleblower Complaint alleges that Ms. Rogers, a 63-year old African American woman and licensed Marriage and Family Therapist/Licensed Clinical Alcohol & Drug Counselor, was illegally terminated from her position as an Outpatient Licensed Clinician after reporting that an operational manager and a “gym buddy” of the Applicant’s management team was engaged in a romantic/sexual relationship with one of Ms. Rogers’ clients at the Kearny Facility. The second legal complaint attached at “Exhibit 2” is a lawsuit filed by Sysco Metro New York LLC entitled Sysco Metro New York, LLC v. Zinnia Health, LLC, et. al, docket number BER- L-000272-24 (the “Non-Payment Complaint”). The Non-Payment Complaint alleges that the Kearny Facility failed to pay the Plaintiff $63,714.07 under a contract with Sysco Metro New York, LLC, presumably for food services. We have also enclosed herein at “Exhibit 3” a November 29, 2016 legal complaint and February 6, 2017 final judgment related to an action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) against Harrison Katzen as a result of a fraudulent investment scheme that defrauded approximately sixty (60) investors located in the United States and abroad of approximately $3.2 million. Pursuant to the Final Judgment, Mr. Katzen was ordered to pay a total of $350,000 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty to the SEC. Based on the unique name and a FINRA Brokercheck search that reflects Mr. Katzen’s employment history to include prior employment at Lehmen Brothers (which is also reflected on Mr. Katzen’s public LinkedIn profile), we believe the Applicant’s representative is the same Mr. Katzen who was charged with the aforementioned violation of federal securities laws. The COM remains deeply concerned about the Application proposed by the Applicant herein. The operation of a short-term rehabilitation and “detox” facility with a revolving door of close to 800 separate residents in any given year1 represents a drastic change from the long-term nursing home that the facility was previously used for. Numerous safety and security concerns come to mind with this volume of troubled transient individuals living adjacent to a residential area and approximately one mile from an elementary

usly used for. Numerous safety and security concerns come to mind with this volume of troubled transient individuals living adjacent to a residential area and approximately one mile from an elementary school. Further troubling are the serious allegations related to patient care and the manner in which employees have allegedly been treated at the Kearny Facility. Ms. Rogers’ allegations of threats to jeopardize her clinical license for bringing to light serious ethical violations on the part of a manager who was allegedly a “gym buddy” of the Applicant’s management team is disturbing to say the least. 1 We calculated this based on the Applicant’s testimony that they expect to have up to 80 residents at any given time with an average stay of 30-45 days. If the average stay is 37.5 days this means that there will be approximately 9.7 turns of each bed in any given year. 80 times 9.7 equals 776. Even at 85% occupancy though (68 residents), this still equates to approximately 660 residents coming and going from the facility in any one year.