Cindy Tappe pleaded guilty to a $3.5 million fraud scheme over six years while she was Director of Finance and Administration at New York University. (NYU), en Manhattan.
According to authorities, Tappe, 57, used public money to finance renovations at his home in Westport, Connecticut. Those funds were originally intended for businesses owned by women and minorities, according to a joint statement from the offices of the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Tappe was originally charged in December 2022. Now he has pleaded guilty to grand theft and agreed to five years’ probation and pay $663,209 in restitution. He is scheduled to receive sentencing on April 16, he said. NBC News.
“Their fraudulent actions not only threatened affect the quality of education for students with disabilities and multilingual students, But they denied our city’s minority- and women-owned businesses the opportunity to compete fairly for funding,” said Attorney General Bragg. it’s a statement.
Bragg and DiNapoli’s offices detailed that Tappe improperly diverted approximately $3.5 million to two shell companies he created while serving as Director of Finance and Administration of the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and School Transformation, known at NYU as the “Metro Center.”
Some of the diverted funds covered NYU-related expenses, including employee reimbursements, but more than $660,000 was used to pay for Tappe’s personal expenses, including renovations to his home in Connecticut and an $80,000 poolthe offices said.
The diverted funds were related to $23 million in grants from the state Department of Education awarded to the Metropolitan Center between 2011 and 2018, according to Bragg and DiNapoli’s offices.
NYU said its internal audit office investigated Tappe and provided its findings to state officials, leading to criminal charges.
“We are deeply disappointed that Tappe abused the trust we placed in her in this way. “He stole from everyone: the taxpayers, the University, the people the Metro Center is supposed to help.”NYU spokesperson John Beckman wrote in an email. “New York University is pleased to have been able to help stop this embezzlement of taxpayers’ money”.
In November, state comptroller DiNapoli reported that a resident of the state of Georgia had collected almost $500,000 in pension and Social Security payments from her deceased mother-in-law in NY over a period of 15 years.
In a similar case, a woman was arrested in The Bronx (NYC) for allegedly robbing the home of a dead man who had the same name as his also-deceased father, then selling the property and squandering the funds on jewelry and a luxury car.
In September, a woman was arrested on suspicion of using credit cards from the company she worked for to pay herself more than $350,000 over the course of two years on Long Island (NY).
In another alleged local scam, a year ago Charlie Javice, founder of the college financial planning platform Frank, was arrested and charged with defrauding JPMorgan Chase for $175 million dollars in New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
2024-03-05 14:33:55
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