{"id":129417,"date":"2026-02-10T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/129417\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:08:07","slug":"former-director-of-queens-defenders-pleads-guilty-to-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/129417\/","title":{"rendered":"Former director of Queens Defenders pleads guilty to fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 In federal court in Brooklyn, Lori Zeno pleaded guilty to conspiracy<\/a> to commit wire fraud for embezzling money from the legal services nonprofit Queens Defenders, of which she was the former executive director.<\/p>\n

The proceeding was held before United States Chief Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon. When sentenced, Zeno faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison as well as restitution and monetary penalties.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr., New York Field Office Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. and NYC Department of Investigation Acting Commissioner Christopher Ryan announced the guilty plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant brazenly betrayed and abused her position of trust as the director of a nonprofit, stealing funds that were meant for legal services for disadvantaged clients and members of the community and then spending those funds on luxury goods and expensive vacations,\u201d Nocella stated.<\/p>\n

According to court filings, Zeno co-founded and served as the executive director of Queens Defenders, providing legal services and community support to indigent residents of Queens.<\/p>\n

Zeno hired her co-defendant, Rashad Ruhani, in October 2023. She later married him<\/a> in a ceremony not recognized by the state.<\/p>\n

Between June 2024 and January 2025, Zeno and Ruhani diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars for their own personal benefit.<\/p>\n

Their purchases included over $10,000 on a vacation to Bali; $1,700 at a luxury resort in Santa Monica, California; $3,300 for an 85-inch smart TV installed at their apartment; thousands of dollars in food deliveries to the apartment; and thousands of dollars at luxury retailers like Ralph Lauren and Neiman Marcus.<\/p>\n

In one instance, the couple charged over $4,000 on an Organization credit card to buy a Louis Vuitton designer handbag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of the conspiracy, Zeno repeatedly lied to the organization, falsely characterizing personal expenses as business expenses to obtain their approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To pay for their penthouse apartment, Zeno and Ruhani fraudulently obtained reimbursements from her nonprofit for over $39,000 in rent by submitting lease documents that were altered to conceal Zeno\u2019s involvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zeno also gave lucrative positions at Queens Defenders to relatives and associates of Ruhani who did little or no substantive work. One hire went to another woman, married to Ruhani, as the director of a fake \u201chealth and wellness\u201d program with a salary of $60,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result of Zeno\u2019s misuse of its funds, Queens Defenders lost its contract to provide criminal defense services to low-income New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

Ruhani is scheduled to stand trial on June 1, 2026. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s case is being handled by the Public Integrity Section of the EDNY U.S. Attorney\u2019s office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Russell Noble and Sean M. Sherman are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Johnson Peow and Daniel Arakawa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 In federal court in Brooklyn, Lori Zeno pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[3308,55726,396,4414,9,24,19343,63,122,55727,124,123,10431,29515,7577],"class_list":{"0":"post-129417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-daily-bulletin","9":"tag-embezzlement","10":"tag-fraud","11":"tag-joseph-nocella","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nonprofit","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-queens","17":"tag-queens-defenders","18":"tag-queens-headlines","19":"tag-queens-news","20":"tag-u-s-attorneys-office-for-the-eastern-district-of-new-york-edny","21":"tag-u-s-district-court-for-the-eastern-district-of-new-york-edny","22":"tag-wire-fraud"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}