Dad testifies against lawyer in adoption Ponzi trial

In their desperate attempt to quickly raise the $7,500 fees required by Roslyn lawyer Kevin Cohen for a private adoption, Michael and Ilysse Rhomberg received a donation from a most poignant source: their two previously adopted young daughters, who gave $500 of their birthday money to help complete their family.

"It was $250 apiece, birthday money," Rhomberg testified in Nassau County Court Monday in Mineola.

There was no sign that the money would disappear without an adoption ever being completed, Rhomberg testified as his wife, a stay-at-home mother, and two children watched.

"He gave me no indication that this was a bad idea," Rhomberg said under questioning by prosecutor Karen Bennett.

Cohen, 41, is charged with 69 counts, including grand larceny and scheme to defraud in allegedly scamming the Rhombergs and 12 other couples out of more than $300,000 in what amounted to an adoption Ponzi scheme, prosecutors say. He is representing himself in his trial, which started Oct. 4.

Rhomberg, a sheet metal fabricator from Eatonton, Ga., said he first connected with Cohen in December 2008 through a relative in Long Island, who had heard of a baby available for adoption through Cohen's nonprofit group, Adoption Annex in Roslyn.

The Rhombergs were saving up money for a third adoption when they heard about the baby, Rhomberg said.

Cohen initially told them the medical and housing fees would be $35,000 for the birth mother - a Yuma, Ariz., dance student, Rhomberg said.

When the couple told Cohen they could not afford the fees, he dropped their portion of the fee to $7,500 and promised that his nonprofit would cover the rest of the fees, Rhomberg said. Cohen sent them sonograms and medical reports purporting to be from the birth mother.

The family prepared for the arrival of a baby girl by buying "pink, pretty little girl stuff," Rhomberg said.

A car seat wouldn't fit in their sedan so they traded the car, at a loss, for an expensive minivan - another of their mounting costs, Rhomberg said, including borrowing $6,000 for the adoption fee at a 30 percent interest rate from a paycheck loan institute, a rate that elicited gasps from jurors.

As the baby's May 2009 due date approached, the family drove the minivan across the country to Yuma to be there from the beginning, Rhomberg said.

As they crossed the country, Cohen told them the baby was going to be taken by the birth father. But he said there was another available baby in Pennsylvania, Rhomberg said.

"You will adopt again. I will make sure of it," Cohen wrote to Rhomberg in an e-mail.

Eventually, Cohen's e-mails and calls stopped, and the money was never seen again, Rhomberg said.

Cohen asked a single question of Rhomberg, if he recalled his retainer agreement promising reimbursement. Bennett said Cohen never sent Rhomberg a retainer agreement.

The trial resumes Thursday.