Latest news with #LoriZeno
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Yahoo
Queens Defenders founder Lori Zeno pleads not guilty to stealing $60K to fund luxury lifestyle
Lori Zeno, the disgraced founder of the Queens Defenders who's accused of raiding the public defender nonprofit's coffers to maintain a luxe lifestyle in a penthouse apartment, pleaded not guilty to wire fraud charges at her first appearance in federal court Wednesday. Zeno, 64, and her ex-con boyfriend, Rashad Ruhani, 55, were indicted last week on charges they stole some $60,000 for personal expenses, using their organization's accounts to pay the rent for their $6,000-a-month Astoria penthouse apartment, which they claimed was being used for 'client defense' and 'foster parent care.' Queens Defenders provides legal representation to criminal defendants who can't afford to hire lawyers. The couple used the nonprofit's credit cards and the rewards points they accrued to pay for their honeymoon to Bali, and spent big at Louis Vuitton, Bloomingdale's, Ralph Lauren and Neiman Marcus stores, the feds allege. They bought an 85-inch television for $3,300, paid for a $2,600 steak dinner, and got their teeth whitened for $600, the feds allege. Zeno used a Queens Defenders credit card to pay for a December vacation at a resort in Santa Monica, Calif., according to court documents. On Wednesday, she appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court, where Magistrate Judge Joseph Maritolo set her bond at $500,000 secured by her sister, brother-in-law and son. 'Some things are not quite what they appear to be,' her lawyer, Anthony Ricco, said outside the courtroom Wednesday, adding that he's still learning about the case against Zeno, who is barred from contacting Ruhani as part of her bail conditions. Zeno served as the executive director of the Queens Defenders from 2018 until she was forced out of the job in January and Ruhani was fired. She hired Ruhani, who was paroled after 26 years in state prison in 2022 for a robbery conviction, as a client advocate in October 2023, and started a romance soon after, according to court documents. In August 2024, Zeno and Ruhani were married in a religious ceremony, but prosecutors don't believe the marriage is legally recognized since 'both Zeno and Ruhani were married to other individuals,' they wrote in a June 11 filing seeking Ruhani's detention. Zeno promoted Ruhani in June 2024 to a position overseeing Queens Defenders' youth programs, the feds allege, and Zeno hired Ruhani's relatives and associates, including his daughter, to positions where they 'did little or no substantive work,' according to the court filing. In November, Zeno hired a woman Ruhani had married about a decade earlier as a $60,000-a-year director of a nonexistent 'health and wellness' program, the feds said. The woman, who lives in Saudi Arabia, never showed up for work, according to prosecutors. Ruhani was arrested last week. Prosecutors asked he be locked up because of his record and his ties to Saudi Arabia. Queens Defenders received roughly $368,000 in federal funds via the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The couple is charged with theft of federal funds and wire fraud. Earlier this year, the city reassigned the group's contracts to Brooklyn Defenders, a separate nonprofit that represents poor defendants in that borough.
New York Times
11-06-2025
- New York Times
Founder of N.Y.C. Public Defender Office Is Charged With Fraud
A founder of the Queens Defenders, a public defender office in New York City, has been charged with diverting tens of thousands of dollars from the organization and using it for personal expenses including a vacation in Bali, rent for a luxury apartment and teeth-whitening procedures. The founder, Lori Zeno, and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, were charged with wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and theft of funds, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York. Starting in 2024, prosecutors said, Ms. Zeno and Mr. Ruhani used at least $60,000 of the organization's funds to pay for luxury vacations, expensive dinners and a penthouse apartment that they said was being used for 'client defense.' Ms. Zeno helped found the organization in 1996 and served as its executive director from 2018 to 2025, earning more than $400,000 in 2023. Mr. Ruhani joined Queens Defenders in 2023 as a client advocate and later entered a romantic relationship with Ms. Zeno, prosecutors said. Ms. Zeno was forced out as executive director in January by the agency's board of directors, after numerous complaints from employees about her management of the organization, the Queens Daily Eagle reported at the time. The Queens Defenders is one of several nonprofit organizations that is paid through city, state and federal contracts to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. In March, the Brooklyn Defenders, another public defender organization in the city, announced that it would oversee the services behind the Queens Defenders' $32 million annual city contract, at the direction of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Mr. Ruhani, 55, was arrested Tuesday night at Kennedy Airport. He is set to appear Wednesday afternoon in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Ms. Zeno, 64, has not yet been arrested. Lawyers for Ms. Zeno and Mr. Ruhani could not immediately be reached for comment. Neither could a representative of the Queens Defenders. A spokesman for the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice declined to comment, citing 'active investigations and litigation.' This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Queens Defenders CEO and founder Lori Zeno forced out on leave; husband fired
Lori Zeno, the executive director and founder of Queens Defenders, a major nonprofit which represent indigent defendants, was placed on forced leave Friday morning and her husband was fired, sources familiar with the sequence said. Zeno was barred from the nonprofit's Queens Blvd. offices and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, identified as a senior legal advocate, was fired, the sources said. 'As a result of information received by the board, Lori Zeno has been placed on leave immediately and is not allowed on any Queens Defenders property,' according to an internal email sent Friday morning obtained by The News. 'Any attempts of [sic] contact or intimidation should be reported to this email immediately.' The immediate reason for the suspension of Zeno, whose annual salary is $434,791 according to records, and the firings was not entirely clear. Queens Defenders did not respond to repeated emails on Friday. Two other employees of the nonprofit, Teyana Reyes and Ureka Washington, were also fired, the sources said. The internal email refers employees who wish to file a complaint to contact the state Attorney General's office, which oversees nonprofits. In a statement, Alexis Richards, a spokeswoman with the AG's office, said, 'The Office of the Attorney General does not comment on ongoing investigations.' The upheaval was first reported early Friday afternoon by the Queens Daily Eagle. Zeno did not respond to phone messages. Ruhani could not be reached. 'Within the next few days, a leadership team will be chosen and a review of employee relations conduct,' the email said. 'In the coming days, there will be a meeting where the employees will be able to speak to the board directly.' Last year, Zeno was criticized by a union representing public defenders for firing two lawyers in the midst of a union election. The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys called it 'heavy-handed union busting on the part of Ms. Zeno.' In 2021, The News reported that Zeno informed her staff that one of their colleagues had COVID, but didn't disclose it was actually her for three days.
