1412. Penalty, interest and special proceedings
1. Any person wilfully failing to make any full and complete report or to file any affidavit required by this chapter shall forfeit to the people of the state the sum of one hundred dollars for each day such report or affidavit shall be wilfully delayed or withheld, except that the state comptroller may extend the time for making any such report or filing any such affidavit and may waive the payment of any penalty or part thereof provided for by this subdivision.
2. In addition to the penalty prescribed in subdivision one of this section for failure to report, any person failing to pay any sum or to deliver any property required to be paid or delivered to the state comptroller by this chapter or any law relating to abandoned property shall pay to the people of the state interest on the amount or value of such property. Such interest shall be at the rate of ten per centum per annum computed for a period to commence upon the date such payment or delivery was required by this chapter and to terminate upon the date of full compliance therewith, except that the state comptroller may waive the payment of all or part of such interest whenever in his opinion the circumstances warrant such waiver.
3. Upon the failure of any person to fully and completely report and pay or deliver abandoned property to the comptroller pursuant to this chapter or any other law relating to abandoned property, the comptroller shall issue a determination of the amount due and owing him as custodian of the abandoned property fund. Such determination shall be served by certified mail upon the person failing to report and pay or deliver and shall be presumptive evidence of the amount stated therein as due and owing the comptroller. Such presumption shall apply to that portion of the stated amount which is alleged to have become payable or deliverable as abandoned property no longer than five years following the thirty-first day of December of the year in which such report was required to be filed. If a full and complete report and payment or delivery is not made by such person within thirty days following the receipt of the determination, the comptroller shall convene a hearing, upon reasonable notice, in order to certify the amount due as abandoned property. The notice of hearing shall be served by certified mail upon the person having failed to report and pay or deliver.
4. Where the comptroller, or a person designated by him, after a hearing certifies the amount due as abandoned property under the provisions of this chapter or any law relating to abandoned property, any aggrieved person may institute a special proceeding within ninety days after notice of said certification under article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules for the purpose of reviewing said certification. In addition to the foregoing provisions of this section, the comptroller may institute a special proceeding in the supreme court, for a judgment directing payment to him of any sum certified to be payable as abandoned property under this chapter together with interest as provided in subdivision two of this section and in such proceeding by the comptroller the certification by him shall be conclusive proof thereof.
Last modified: February 3, 2019