In PR Scramble, New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Abruptly Terminates Business With Fraud-Tainted Polygraph Operator Daniel Ribacoff

On the morning of Friday, 12 November 2021, the New York Daily News published online news of Long Island polygraph operator Daniel D. Ribacoff’s racist text messages, which were first reported by AntiPolygraph.org in early October and later that month by Jeffrey Augustine on his Dirty Cops and PIs blog.

As reported by AntiPolygraph.org in April 2021, Ribacoff’s family-owned company, International Investigative Group, which includes the subsidiary InDepthPolygraphs, held a contract with the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Department (MTAPD) to conduct polygraph screening of applicants for employment. At that time, the MTA’s media relations department did not reply to an inquiry from AntiPolygraph.org regarding whether the MTA was aware that International Investigative Group was the defendant in a civil lawsuit credibly alleging billing fraud in the millions of dollars.

The MTA had known of Ribacoff’s racist text messages as early as 29 September 2021, when they were mentioned in a legal brief filed in support of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint brought by Jonathan Carter, a black NYPD officer in connection with a polygraph “test” administered by Ribacoff’s daughter, Lisa, as part of his 2020 application for employment with the MTAPD. Despite knowing of the racist text messages, the MTA took no action.

However, it appears that reporting of Ribacoff’s racist text messages in a major newspaper was something the MTA could not sweep under the rug. Within hours of the New York Daily News’ Friday morning online report, the article was updated, noting:

After the Daily News published this exclusive report online, the MTA said the agency has canceled all remaining polygraphs that were scheduled to be given by Ribacoff’s company until his contract expires in early 2022.

The Daily News article, by reporters Clayton Guse and Noah Goldberg and titled “Accusations of ‘Racial Gatekeeping’ at MTA Police Department,” is well-worth reading in its entirety.

Daniel Ribacoff’s racist text messages have cost him not only his business with the MTAPD: in late October, NBCUniversal’s Steve Wilkos Show, for which Ribacoff had conducted polygraph “tests” since 2009, quietly gave him the boot. Neither NBCUniversal nor the Steve Wilkos Show producers have made any public statement regarding their firing of Ribacoff.

Upon losing his gig with the Steve Wilkos Show, Ribacoff made his Twitter profile, with over 5,000 tweets and 9,000 followers, private.

Later, but prior to the Daily News’ reporting on his racist text messages, Ribacoff appeared to have deleted his Twitter account entirely.

Update 15 November 2021: Daniel Ribacoff did not in fact delete his Twitter account, as originally reported in this article. Instead, he changed his Twitter handle from @DanielRibacoff to @DiamondsGG78 and removed his photograph from the profile. He also purports his location to be “England, United Kingdom.” His tweets, some 186 of which have evidently been deleted, remain private.