{"id":68236,"date":"2025-12-12T01:31:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68236\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T01:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:31:14","slug":"restaurant-owned-by-famed-nyc-news-anchor-rosanna-scotto-robbed-of-2-5m-by-brazen-staffer-who-used-siphoned-cash-to-buy-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68236\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant owned by famed NYC news anchor Rosanna Scotto robbed of $2.5M by brazen staffer who used siphoned cash to buy house"},"content":{"rendered":"

Popular Italian restaurant Fresco by Scotto<\/a> was robbed of more than $2 million by its brazen bookkeeper \u2014 who allegedly used the siphoned cash to buy a house, pay her husband\u2019s internet bills and line her own pockets, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Lori Jakubowski is facing charges that she embezzled $2.5 million for the Midtown East hotspot co-owned by Channel 5\u2019s \u201cGood Day New York\u201d anchor Rosanna Scotto<\/a>, according to the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors in DA Alvin Bragg\u2019s office said Jakubowski ran the grand scheme over a seven-year period, stealing money in any way she could \u2014 from snatching cash tips to writing herself checks from the eatery\u2019s bank account.<\/p>\n

Lori Jakubowski allegedly embezzled $2.5 million from Manhattan restaurant Fresco by Scotto. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

The bookkeeper allegedly scammed the restaurant over a seven-year period. NY Post Brian Zak<\/p>\n

The embezzled moolah helped fund her lifestyle away from work, including at least $100,000 she used to buy a house in Pennsylvania with her husband, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(She) used the restaurant\u2019s bank account to pay for her husband\u2019s Spectrum Internet bill,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Stephen MacArthur said at Jakubowski\u2019s first court appearance in the case Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Jakubowski was also \u201coverpaying herself by issuing unauthorized paychecks allegedly for vacation time,\u201d MacArthur said in court.<\/p>\n

As part of the scheme to purchase the $164,500 home, Jakubowski allegedly made out 88 separate checks and money orders and cashed them over a four-day period, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Jakubowski arriving at her arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court on Dec. 10, 2025. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

Fresco by Scotto is owned by \u201cGood Day New York\u201d host Rosanna Scotto. Brian Zak\/Page Six<\/p>\n

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Althea Drysdale agreed to release Jakubowski on supervision \u2014 but warned her that the decision wasn\u2019t a \u201cget-out-of-court-free card.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as you have that other abode in Pennsylvania, you must come to court when I tell you to come to court. Do you understand?\u201d the judge asked, to which Jakubowski responded, \u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jakubowski was indicted on grand larceny and falsifying business records charges and faces up to 25 years behind bars, if convicted on the top count.<\/p>\n

Jakubowski allegedly stole tips and wrote checks to herself from the restaurant\u2019s bank account. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

She pleaded not guilty to all charges.<\/p>\n

Her attorney, Michael Fineman, did not comment after the arraignment. She\u2019s due back in court on Feb. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n

Fresco by Scotto, owned by Rosanna and her children Jenn and LJ Ruggiero, recently renewed its lease at 485 Madison Ave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The eatery opened in 1993 and bills itself as offering an \u201cextension of true Italian hospitality,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Fresco by Scotto said it was cooperating with the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Popular Italian restaurant Fresco by Scotto was robbed of more than $2 million by its brazen bookkeeper \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35410,68,35411,75,4327,57,9,56,63,65,64,821,34578,58],"class_list":["post-68236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-embezzling","tag-exclusive","tag-fresco-by-scotto","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants","tag-rosanna-scotto","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68236","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=68236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}