2 People Sentenced After Nonprofit Funds Spent On Luxury Items, Travel: Prosecutors

GARDEN CITY, NY —Two nonprofit legal services organization workers were sentenced on Tuesday for their roles in a scheme to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Lori Zeno of Garden City, former executive director of Queens Defenders, and Rashad Ruhani of Corona, a former employee, were sentenced to 43 months' imprisonment and 57 months' imprisonment, respectively, by U.S. District Judge Rachel P. Kovner, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Zeno and Ruhani were ordered to pay $656,349.57 in restitution to their former workplace, Queens Defenders, and forfeiture money judgments of $187,014.24 (Zeno) and $102,534.27 (Ruhani), prosecutors said.

"Lori Zeno brazenly betrayed and abused her position of trust as the director of a nonprofit organization, while Rashad Ruhani worked hand in hand with her to steal funds intended to provide legal services and other critical resources to disadvantaged members of the community," United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr. said.

Zeno and Ruhani were accused of engaging in a "corrupt scheme" to embezzle funds from Queens Defenders and divert those funds for their own benefit, which included spending it on expensive meals, luxury shopping, renting a penthouse apartment, and foreign travel between June 2024 and January 2025, prosecutors said.

One of their purchases on the Queens Defenders' credit cards included a more-than-$10,000 vacation to Bali, prosecutors said. Others were for a $3,300 85-inch smart television, $1,700 at a luxury resort in Santa Monica, California, and thousands of dollars at luxury retailers like Ralph Lauren and Neiman Marcus, including a $4,000 charge towards a Louis Vuitton handbag, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said that Zeno and Ruhani "repeatedly lied" to the Queens Defenders by marking their personal expenses as business expenses to get approval. One example was with the penthouse apartment – the pair "fraudulently obtained reimbursements" from the organization for more than $39,000 in rent by sending in altered lease documents, prosecutors said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Zeno helped relatives and associates of Ruhani get hired at Queens Defenders, and they did "little or no substantive work."

"Including hiring a woman married to Ruhani as the director of a non-existent 'health and wellness' program with a salary of $60,000," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Because of the duo's misuse of funds, Queens Defenders lost its city contract to provide criminal defense services to low-income New York residents, prosecutors said.

"Instead of upholding the law and serving those in need, the defendants greedily served themselves by spending those funds on luxury goods, lavish travel, and other personal indulgences," Nocella said.

Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), James C. Barnacle, Jr. announced the sentencing on July 28, along with U.S. Attorney Nocella and Commissioner of New York City Department of Investigation Nadia I. Shihata.

"Today's sentencing reinforces our commitment to protecting the integrity of the services non-profits provide," Barnacle said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the case is being handled by the Office's Public Integrity Section, and Assistant United States Attorneys Russell Noble, Sean M. Sherman, and Brooke Theodora are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Johnson Peow and Daniel Arakawa.