(USA TODAY)- What's the market value of the rights to the iconic name of the World Trade Center, site of the world-famed twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks?
Just $10, according to a deal the site's owner, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, approved in 1986 with a private firm linked to one of the bi-state agency's top executives.
Port Authority officials "exercised lax oversight" and "performed virtually no due diligence" in selling the rights to the non-profit called The World Trade Centers Association, according to investigation results and a settlement announced Friday by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Moreover, an outside attorney who advised the Port Authority on the deal worked for the private company at the same time, the investigation concluded, characterizing the dual role "a clear conflict of interest."
As a result, the bi-state agency paid the private firm an approximate total of $184,000 in "membership fees" since 1986 for the right to continue using the World Trade Center name, the investigation found.
The deal proved lucrative for The World Trade Centers Association, which promotes the concept of world trade centers established in other cities around the world. The company's net assets in 2012 totaled nearly $12 million, its tax filing for that year shows.
"We found that the Port Authority sold this association its rights to the 'World Trade Center' name for pennies on the dollar," said Schneiderman, who announced a settlement he termed "a reasonable and fair way to compensate the people of New York State for the use of a cherished symbol."
Schneiderman's investigation found no "unlawful conduct" by present or former Port Authority officials. But a summary of the investigation findings noted that several key participants in the deal have since died.
The deceased include Guy Tozzoli, the former Port Authority executive who became president of The World Trade Centers Association — a post that paid him millions of dollars in addition to his retirement benefits from the bi-state agency before his death in February 2013. Tozzoli's 2011 compensation from the company totaled $626,573, according to the non-profit firm's tax filing for that year.
Lee Robinson, the outside attorney involved in the deal, has also died, according to the settlement. Robinson "maintained close personal ties with the Port Authority's General Counsel, who was a law school roommate, and Tozzoli," the investigation found.
Additionally, potential evidence that "could further clarify the issues" had "undoubtedly been lost" when the towers collapsed in the devastating 2001 attack watched around the world, the settlement concluded.
The World Trade Centers Association denied any legal violations and neither admitted nor denied the investigation findings. The firm nonetheless agreed to pay New York $184,000 to cover the previously paid membership fees. The firm also will pay up to $300,000 over the next 20 years from revenue from the use of the World Trade Center name in New York and New Jersey.
"We look forward to putting this matter behind us so we can again focus on maintaining the integrity of the World Trade Center on behalf of the Port Authority and our other members around the world, said Bella Heule, the firm's executive vice president.
While accepting the investigation outcome, Port Authority Chairman agency Chairman John Degnan said officials of the bi-state agency "remain deeply concerned about the possibility of ethical lapses on the part of both former Port Authority officials as well as the World Trade Center Association in connection with the 1986 agreement and the subsequent employment of a retired Port Authority executive."
"We have directed a review by outside counsel of the possibility of a civil action against the World Trade Center Association, are reviewing what, if any, continuing relationship the Port Authority should have with the WTCA in light of these findings and are asking the Attorney General of New Jersey to consider seeking the same relief for the citizens of that state that the New York Attorney General has secured for citizens of New York."
