Lori Zeno, of Garden City, who led NYC public defenders office, pleads guilty to embezzling from nonprofit
Former Queens Defenders Executive Director Lori Zeno, center, talks to reporters outside the Queens courthouse on June 25, 2020. Credit: AP/Kevin Hagen
A Garden City resident who founded a New York City public defenders office pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling more than $100,000 from the nonprofit to pay for a vacation to Bali, a luxury handbag and a penthouse apartment, federal prosecutors said.
Lori Zeno, 65, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon in federal court in Brooklyn.
Zeno, the former executive director of the Queens Defenders, faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on April 20.
Zeno founded the nonprofit in 1996 and was the executive director from 2018 to 2025, Newsday has reported, citing court papers.
"The 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," Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. "Our Office will vigorously prosecute those who steal public funds and deprive members of our community of crucial resources."
Zeno's attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Zeno was indicted last year, along with her husband, Rashad Ruhani, on charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and theft of funds.
Ruhani maintains his innocence and is set to go on trial in June.
According to prosecutors, Zeno hired Ruhani in 2023 to work for Queens Defenders, which provides free legal services to low-income defendants. Beginning months later, in June 2024, the pair "engaged in a corrupt scheme" to embezzle funds from the nonprofit, federal prosecutors said in a news release.
They spent $10,000 on a Bali vacation, $1,700 at a luxury resort in Santa Monica, California, and charged a $4,000 Louis Vuitton bag to the nonprofit's credit card, prosecutors said.
In an attempt to get approval for the expenses, Zeno falsely characterized them as business expenses and submitted altered lease documents in order to get over $39,000 in rent reimbursements for the penthouse apartment, prosecutors said.
The nonprofit lost its contract with New York City to provide legal services "as a result of" Zeno's conduct, prosecutors said.
She also hired relatives and associates of her husband "who did little or no substantive work," prosecutors said.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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