Feds expand fraud case against former Queens Defenders boss

Lori Zeno was hit with a superseding indictment earlier this month.  AP file photo by Kevin Hagen

By Jacob Kaye

Prosecutors alleged earlier this month that Lori Zeno, the former executive director of Queens Defenders, and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, stole at least $300,000 from the legal nonprofit to fund luxury vacations, trips to expensive restaurants and their penthouse apartment in Astoria. The total in alleged stolen funds is five times larger than the sum they were originally accused of pilfering earlier this year.

The massive increase in the alleged amount stolen from the public defense firm, which almost exclusively drew its revenue from taxpayer-funded city and state contracts, was detailed in a superseding indictment filed in federal court on Dec. 15. The superseding indictment also includes several new charges and a new defendant.

Zeno and Ruhani were arrested in June on wire fraud, theft and money laundering charges. The superseding indictment includes obstruction of justice, concealment of evidence and false statement charges. Some of those new charges have also been brought against a new defendant in the case, music media personality Kimberly Osorio, who prosecutors say helped Ruhani hide his evidence-laden cell phone from law enforcement as they began to make arrests in the case.

The superseding indictment comes around six months before Zeno and Ruhani’s trial is set to begin.

Osorio, who was arrested in October, is currently negotiating a plea with federal prosecutors and could potentially avoid a trial.

The superseding indictment is the latest development in a case that has fundamentally altered public defense in Queens and has turned Queens Defenders into a shell of what it once was.

Evidence of the potential fraud committed by Zeno and Ruhani, who were married in a religious ceremony in August 2024, was first uncovered at the start of 2025. Ruhani and two others were fired from the organization that month and Zeno was put on indefinite leave. The organization’s board of directors, which included Zeno’s brother, forced the co-founder to go on leave.

In March, the city ended a criminal defense contract with Queens Defenders, taking away a massive portion of its revenue. The city said it no longer trusted the firm to carry out the promise of the $32 million contract to provide criminal defense to low-income New Yorkers in Queens and handed the funds over to Brooklyn Defender Services. The Brooklyn public defense firm went on to hire a majority of the attorneys and staff working in Queens Defenders’ criminal defense practice and assumed control of some of the organization’s office space in Queens.

Prosecutors said that the pair used a Queens Defenders’ credit card to pay for a number of personal expenses.

After getting married, Zeno and Ruhani allegedly used the organization’s money to fund a $10,000 honeymoon in Bali, a locale for which Zeno appeared to have an affinity. In a lengthy interview with the Eagle in March 2025, several months before her arrest, the former executive director mentioned the Indonesian province twice.

“I want to fly off to Bali somewhere, and live the rest of my life in peace,” she said.

In the lead-up to their wedding, the couple also allegedly used the card to foot a $1,300 bill at a high-end restaurant. They also spent $5,200 at a luxury goods store and $1,300 at a clothing store, prosecutors said. A trip to a steakhouse ran the couple $2,600 in November 2024, which they charged to the Queens Defenders card, according to the indictment.

Zeno also allegedly used the card for a $600 teeth-whitening procedure.

The duo also used the organization’s cash to pay for their penthouse apartment in Astoria. Ruhani allegedly used a credit card issued to Zeno to pay for a $3,300 85-inch smart TV.

Queens Defenders also unknowingly paid at least $39,000 in rent for the $6,000-per-month apartment, which Ruhani claimed was being used for client defense and foster parent care, according to the charges.

While Zeno was released on $500,000 bail after her arraignment, Ruhani, who served over 25 years on a robbery conviction, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Ruhani was placed on lifetime parole after his release from prison in 2022.

While their pre-trial living situations were different, both allegedly had trouble following the rules.

Prosecutors accused Zeno of continuing to attempt to steal thousands of dollars from the organization by returning $7,000 worth of packaging supplies she fraudulently charged to Queens Defenders. The feds said they weren’t sure why Zeno bought the packing supplies, which included large plastic bins, industrial package scales, a vacuum sealer, industrial packing tables, industrial steel shelving and a dozen knives.

About six weeks after she had been indicted, Zeno allegedly called the company that sold her the goods and told them that the “[j]ob fell through and [the] items [were] no longer needed,” according to prosecutors.

Throughout August, Zeno made several calls to the vendor, attempting to get the refund check made out to her, the filing said. Zeno allegedly made such a fuss about the refund that the vendor eventually blocked her phone number.

In light of the incident, prosecutors asked a judge in September to order Zeno to wear an ankle monitor, ban her from speaking with any vendor about purchases she made under the organization’s name and allow them to monitor Zeno’s electronic devices.

The judge denied most of the request but ordered Zeno not to speak with any vendors she used to do business with.

Ruhani’s alleged rule-breaking involved Osorio and began before his official arrest.

While it’s unclear how Ruhani and Osorio knew each other, prosecutors said they took a trip together to Los Angeles on June 6. The pair flew back to John F. Kennedy Airport on June 10 and while they were in the air, law enforcement began executing a number of search warrants against two unidentified people associated with the case.

According to the charges, Ruhani got a call from the child of one of the people whose phone was seized by the FBI, and during the five-and-a-half-minute call, Ruhani was told the fraud scheme was coming to light.

Despite sitting next to each other on the flight and in Los Angeles International Airport before it, Ruhani and Osorio were not together when Ruhani got off the plane at JFK and was immediately arrested.

Osorio eventually got off the plane and was confronted by an FBI agent right before she left the airport. Osorio allegedly told the agent that she had been traveling alone and that all the electronic devices she had belonged to her.

In reality, Ruhani had instructed Osorio to take his phone, hide it and use it to make phone calls to a number of people on his behalf, prosecutors claimed.

A judge in July ordered him to remain behind bars ahead of his trial.

Zeno and Ruhani’s trial is scheduled for June 1, 2026.