Queens Defenders Founder Lori Zeno Sentenced to 3.5 Years for $656K Embezzlement
Lori Zeno, founder of Queens Defenders, received a 3.5-year federal prison sentence for embezzling over $100,000 to fund a lavish lifestyle with her ex-con partner.
Queens Defenders founder gets federal prison time, blames ex-con partner for fraud scheme
Lori Zeno, 66, the founder of Queens Defenders, was sentenced Tuesday to three-and-a-half years in federal prison for embezzling more than $100,000 from the legal aid organization she led, NY Post Metro reports. In Brooklyn federal court, Zeno tearfully blamed her former employee and romantic partner, Rashad Ruhani, 56, for pushing her into the scheme.
"The man that swore before God that he loved me actually didn't, and the career I had spent over 40 years building ended in disgrace," Zeno told the court. Judge Rachel Kovner was unmoved by the appeal, handing down the prison term and ordering both defendants to pay $656,349 in restitution to Queens Defenders.
A fraud scheme funded by luxury travel and designer goods
Zeno hired Ruhani to work at Queens Defenders in October 2023, when she served as executive director of the nonprofit, which provided legal aid and community support to low-income residents of Queens. The pair married in a religious ceremony and launched their fraudulent scheme in the summer of 2024, federal prosecutors said.
Together they embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization, spending the funds on foreign travel, fine dining and luxury goods. Court documents detail a $10,000 vacation to Bali, a $1,700 stay at a Santa Monica luxury resort, and a $3,300 85-inch television installed in a penthouse apartment in Astoria.
Zeno was leasing the apartment for $6,000 per month. Ruhani separately billed Queens Defenders $39,000 toward their rent, claiming the penthouse was being used for "client defend" and "foster parent care" services, according to prosecutors. Other charges to the organization included $600 for teeth whitening and more than $4,000 for a Louis Vuitton handbag.
Ghost jobs and lost city contract
Beyond the personal spending, Zeno also gave no-show jobs to Ruhani's relatives. She hired a woman he was apparently legally married to for a non-existent "health and wellness" position at a salary of $60,000, prosecutors said. That arrangement ultimately cost Queens Defenders its city contract to provide criminal defense services to low-income New Yorkers.
Judge Kovner specifically cited Zeno's abuse of power during the sentencing hearing. "Ms. Zeno was really the person who had the most power in the organization to make this happen," Kovner said, referring to the placement of Ruhani's relatives in bogus roles. The lost contract was valued at $35 million.
Letters submitted by public defenders urged incarceration, describing Zeno as a "power-driven bully who ruled with intimidation." One letter alleged she secretly recorded employees using hidden cameras and audio devices. "It is difficult — and goes against the very fiber of our professional identities — to submit this statement to the Court and ask for the incarceration of another," one former Queens Defenders staffer wrote.
Ruhani sentenced separately; both ordered to pay restitution
Ruhani was sentenced to approximately four years in prison in a separate proceeding held shortly before Zeno's hearing. He previously served 26 years in prison on a robbery conviction. At his sentencing, Ruhani apologized for stealing the money and pledged to do better upon his release.
In addition to the joint restitution order of $656,349, Zeno was directed to pay $187,000 in forfeiture. Ruhani was ordered to forfeit $103,000. Both defendants pleaded guilty this year to wire fraud.
Zeno, speaking through tears, told the court she was "not a stupid woman" but an "intelligent" one who had been led astray by "demons" that caused her to abandon her professional values. She is ordered to surrender to begin her prison term on September 20.
Source: NY Post Metro