FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

D.A. BROWN: RICHMOND HILL COUPLE CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLING $800,000 FROM DRAKE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Queens woman who formerly worked as a supervisor in the accounts payable department of the Drake Business School, has been charged, along with her husband, with stealing more than $800,000 from the Astoria, Queens, school by fraudulently negotiating over 200 checks from the school’s accounts – allegedly made out by two of the school’s CEOs – and unlawfully retaining the proceeds. Drake Business School ceased operation in June 2004, after filing for bankruptcy.

District Attorney Brown said, “While the school struggled to remain financially solvent, school management were caught completely unaware that as fast as money came in the front door, it was going out the back door and allegedly into the pockets of these two defendants and others.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Angela Sugrim, 29, and her husband, Rafiek Yussef, 33, both of 109-33 112th Street in Richmond Hill. They were arraigned today before Queens Criminal Court Judge Mary O’Donoghue and ordered held without bail. Their next court date is September 28, 2005.

Defendant Sugrim is charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, 206 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument ion the Second Degree and 5 counts of Violation of Tax Law 1804(b) (False Returns; Personal Income and Earning Taxes). Defendant Yussef is charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, 36 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, three counts of violation of Tax Law 1804 (a)(b) (False Returns). The defendants each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney said that, according to the charges, among the defendant Sugrim’s duties as accounts payable supervisor was the printing and distributing of all checks, and that the defendants, between August 1998 and March 2004, fraudulently negotiated 206 checks, totaling $813,687, made out on Drake Business School accounts that they deposited into bank accounts controlled by them. For instance, it is alleged that the account records for R&A Enterprises, LLC, a business account maintained at JP Morgan Chase Bank, and for which the defendant Sugrim is president and sole signatory, indicate deposits over a 16-month period of seventy-four checks made out on Drake Business School accounts where the two purported signers were the school’s chief executive officers.

According to the District Attorney, the two defendants were also variously charged with failing to claim as income the money deposited into their accounts for the years 1998 through 2003.

District Attorney Brown noted that the comptroller of Drake’s Business School, Isaac Quinones, 37, of 123 Scott Avenue in Yonkers, New York, was charged in April 2004 with stealing $40,704 from the school through a similar check scam. That case is presently pending trial.

Drake Business School was located at 3203 Steinway Street in Astoria, New York. The school offered degree programs in accounting and information processing, among others. The school filed for bankruptcy last year after its CEO, David Hart, was shot and disabled. At the time, Mr. Hart had been conducting an audit of the school in an attempt to bring the school back into fiscal health. According to the District Attorney, the investigation into his shooting is continuing.

The investigation was conducted by Assistant District Attorney David Chen and Forensic Accountant James Dever, both of the District Attorney's Economic Crimes Bureau. Assisting in the investigation was Associate Attorney Christine Becker Stevens, of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance under the supervision of Bruce Kato, Deputy Commissioner, and Andrew Eristoff, Commissioner.

The arrests were made by New York City Police Department Detective Daniel Lewis, of the 114th Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Sergeant Richard Rudolph and Lieutenant Stephen Borchers and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Michael Waltman.

Assistant District Attorney David Chen, of the District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Gregory C. Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and Diane Peress, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely accusations and that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.