A luxury penthouse apartment, with polished stone countertops and stunning views of the New York City skyline, would seem like an odd expense for a public defender organization whose clients are poor defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
But Lori Zeno, the founder of the public defender organization Queens Defenders, paid to rent a luxury apartment and many other things, federal prosecutors said, with stolen public money.
Ms. Zeno and her romantic partner, Rashad Ruhani, used more than $300,000 of the organization’s funds on indulgences like a vacation to Bali, teeth-whitening procedures and repairs to a Mercedes-Benz, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
On Tuesday, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Ms. Zeno, 65, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Before being arrested, Ms. Zeno said, she had sought treatment for mental health issues and alcoholism.
Mr. Ruhani has maintained his innocence, while a third defendant in the case, Kimberly Osorio, was charged in October with lying to federal investigators.
“It’s a very sad moment,” said Steven Legon, a lawyer for Ms. Zeno, whom he called a “very accomplished attorney,” after the proceeding.
Ms. Zeno is set to be sentenced on April 20. Russell Noble, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the government would seek a prison term of four to five years for Ms. Zeno.
The case unearthed a disturbing level of graft, particularly for the leader of an organization that represents the city’s most vulnerable residents. The Queens Defenders, which Ms. Zeno helped found in 1996, is one of a number of nonprofits that are paid through city, state and federal contracts to represent defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that Ms. Zeno “brazenly betrayed and abused her position of trust as the director of a nonprofit.”
Ms. Zeno became the organization’s executive director in 2018, earning about $400,000 a year to lead the organization. She was fired in January 2025 after the organization said it discovered “several irregularities” from an independent forensic audit.
After Ms. Zeno was fired, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice announced it would reassign the services behind the organization’s annual contract, worth $32 million, to the Brooklyn Defenders, another public defender organization in New York City.
“Queens Defenders is under new leadership and focused on our work to serve the people of the borough,” Mike Scala, the president of the Queens Defenders board of directors, said in a statement.
Some people who worked with Ms. Zeno at the Queens Defenders have described her as a tyrant who bullied racial minorities and women. In a separate federal lawsuit filed in 2024, Ms. Zeno and the organization were accused of racial discrimination and retaliation by three former employees.
Ms. Zeno, according to the lawsuit and former employees, routinely berated and belittled staff at the organization’s office in Far Rockaway, Queens, imposing a culture of fear. She once told her staff that she would “eviscerate” and sue a lawyer who went on maternity leave and did not return to the organization, according to court papers.
Beginning in 2024, prosecutors said, Ms. Zeno and Mr. Ruhani began a romantic relationship and drew on the organization’s funds to embark on a wild spending spree. They spent thousands on luxury items from Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Ralph Lauren. More than $39,000 was spent on rent for the penthouse, prosecutors said, along with DoorDash deliveries and an 85-inch television.
“They were not, in fact, business expenses,” Ms. Zeno said in court on Tuesday.
In addition to the theft of funds, prosecutors said, Ms. Zeno hired relatives and friends of Mr. Ruhani for jobs in which they did no work. One of the people Ms. Zeno hired was Mr. Ruhani’s wife, who despite living in Saudi Arabia, was paid $60,000 to lead a nonexistent health and wellness program at Queens Defenders.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
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