JANUARY 18, 2000

LL COOL J's COUSIN INDICTED IN ALLEGED THEFT OF $150,000 FROM RAPPER AND COMMUNITY

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced the indictment of a Hempstead woman on charges of stealing more than $150,000 from LL Cool J while she managed the office he maintained in St. Albans. She is also charged with 90 counts of petit larceny for stealing fees from parents registering their children for summer camp.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Cynthia Cooper, 31, of 36 Angevine Avenue, Hempstead NY. She is charged with Grand Larcency 2, Scheme to Defraud 1, Falsifying Business Records 1 and ninety counts of petit larceny. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said, "The defendant is charged with having betrayed the trust of the family member who hired her as well as the entire Southeast Queens community. She allegedly charged families fees for a summer camp for their children which was intended to be free and then greedily pocketed the funds."

According to the charges, Ms. Cooper stole checks sent to LL Cool J, her cousin and employer, and Camp Cool J at the rapper's St. Albans office totaling more than $125,000, monies for which she was responsible during LL Cool J's extensive travels. Much of the money was donated to LL Cool J's camp by corporations such as Coca Cola, McDonalds and Walden Books. It is alleged that Cooper opened accounts at the Dime Savings Bank with herself and her mother as signatories, deposited the stolen checks and then withdrew the funds for her personal use. She also allegedly requested thousands of dollars in reimbursement for expenses which she never incurred.

In addition, Cooper is charged with having solicited thousands of dollars in funds from parents and the community for Camp Cool J and never accounting for the money. In 1998, she allegedly charged parents registering their children for camp a fee of $25 per child without LL's knowledge. The next year when LL Cool J told her of plans to focus on the needs of high school children rather than Camp Cool J, Cooper allegedly went ahead with the promotion for the camp registering children and collecting fees in spite of the fact that no 1999 camp was planned.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Glen Mckechnie under the supervision of Lt. Al Velardi of the Queens District Attorney's Squad and the overall supervision of Chief Edward T. Brady along with Detective Bernard Gifford of the New York Police Department, Intelligence Division. Assistant District Attorneys Diane Peress and Jeanetta Alexander of the District Attorney's Economic Crimes Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michael Mansfield are in charge of the case.

It is to be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.