The dishonor of the defenders of Queens and her beforehand imprisoned boyfriend had been accused on Wednesday of venting within the non -profit group of indigent protection for about $ 60,000 in private bills, together with a Penthouse house of $ 6,000 to a month, holidays to Bali and Southern California, elegant eating places and luxurious merchandise, in keeping with an accusation in a federal courtroom in a federal courtroom in Brookly.
As a part of the scheme, which coated half of 2024, Lori Zeno, 64, and Rashad Ruhani, 55, used group bank cards to spend $ 10,000 on Bali’s journey, take pleasure in a meat dinner of $ 2,600, purchase an 85 -inch tv amongst these aligning of $ three,300.
Ruhani was arrested Tuesday evening at JFK airport after reaching a flight from California. It was scheduled to be prosecuted on Wednesday afternoon. His lawyer James Lenihan couldn’t be contacted instantly to remark.
Zeno was not in custody and was scheduled to be prosecuted at a later date. She was expelled as govt director of the Group, which represents the homeless defendants, in January. She couldn’t be contacted both.
The Queens Blvd. Constructing lodging the workplaces of Queens defenders. (Google)
In keeping with the accusation, Zeno, govt director of the group since 2018, and Ruhani, who was positioned on probation after 26 years in state jail in 2022 for a sentence for theft, started a romance shortly after Ruhani was employed as a “consumer defender” in October 2023.
Zeno quickly promoted Ruhani to oversee the youth packages of the Queens defenders in June 2024. From there, the couple started utilizing the group’s bank cards to illegally pay a wide range of private bills, which additionally included the lease for the Penthouse house of $ 6,000 to month in Queens.
Then, the couple repeatedly lied to the group, claiming that the bills had been for official business functions, to acquire reimbursement, alleges the accusation.
Solely between August 2024 and October 2024, Ruhani offered $ 39,000 in fraudulent bills experiences for the price of Penthouse house, which was getting used for the “consumer protection” and “care of parenting dad and mom.”
Queens defenders obtained roughly $ 368,000 in federal funds by the town’s preservation and housing improvement division. The couple is accused of theft of federal funds and digital fraud.
The investigation was performed by the FBI and the town’s analysis division. A spokeswoman for Doi declined to remark.
Queens’s defenders refused to touch upon the fees. Earlier this yr, the town reassigned the group’s contracts to the defenders of Brooklyn, a separate revenue non -profit group that represents the poor defendants in that district.
Daniel Ball, spokesman for Brooklyn Defenders, stated the transition can be official on July 1.
“From that date,” stated Ball, “Felony Protection Attorneys, social employees, authorized assistants and different personnel [from Queens Defenders] They are going to be a part of our group and can proceed to serve their purchasers and the neighborhood of Queens. “
Initially revealed: