Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced this week that four men, including a Far Rockaway rabbi, with ties to one of the city’s largest providers of special education services to preschoolers with disabilities, have been indicted for allegedly stealing more than $12.4 million city city and state funding that was intended for children. Photo courtesy Queens District Attorney’s Office
Four men, including a Far Rockaway rabbi, with ties to one of the city’s largest providers of special education services to preschoolers with disabilities have been charged with allegedly stealing more than $12.4 million in city and state funding that was intended for special needs students between the ages of three and five, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.
Ira Kurman, 52, of Hewlett, New York; Rabbi Samuel Hiller, 56, of Far Rockaway; Roy Hoffman, 50, of Woodmere, New York; and Daniel Laniado, 41, of East 17th Street in Brooklyn were arraigned on a 42-count indictment at Queens Supreme Court in Kew Gardens on Tuesday, the DA said.
“It is disheartening to see a betrayal of the magnitude alleged in this indictment,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “The public funds provided to Island Child Development Center were earmarked for special needs preschoolers… but instead were allegedly used by the defendants for their own purposes. This investigation makes clear that frauds of this nature will inevitably be exposed and rooted out – and that those who engage in them will be brought to justice.”
DiNapoli echoed this sentiment.
“These individuals allegedly stole millions of taxpayer dollars meant for special needs children in brazen disregard for common decency and the law,” he said.
According to the charges, the four men were affiliated with the Island Child Development Center, a private not-for-profit company located in Far Rockaway which primarily provides services to children in the Orthodox Jewish communities of Far Rockaway, Williamsburg, and Borough Park, the DA said.
The ICDC received approximately $27 million in state funding between 2005 and 2012 – of that amount, it is alleged that $12.472 million was illegally diverted to the defendants for their personal use, to their families, to their other business endeavors, and to local members of their religious communities, Brown said.
For example, Rabbi Hiller allegedly diverted $8 million to numerous religious schools and camps not affiliated with ICDC, including $3 million to B’nos Bais Yaakov Academy, a private all-girls school in Far Rockaway at which he serves as principal, according to the DA.
It is also alleged that Kurman made more than $143,000 in loans to members of the community and received repayment of the loans in cash, in addition to receiving goods and services at cost, such as the services of a caterer for events related to his daughter’s wedding and son’s Bar Mitzvah, Brown said.
