Queens Defenders’ Lori Zeno pleads not guilty to fraud charges

Lori Zeno (center), the former executive director of Queens Defenders, was arraigned on fraud charges Wednesday after prosecutors said she stole tens of thousands of dollars from the organization she founded. AP file photo by Kevin Hagen

By Ryan Schwach

Former Queens Defenders Executive Director and founder Lori Zeno appeared in court in Brooklyn on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.

Zeno, who was ousted from the Queens non-profit defender organization in January is accused of allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the organization, which was primarily funded by city tax dollars and has received millions of dollars in government contracts over the past three decades.

Zeno was released on $500,000 bond, and must remain in New York State and not make contact with any current or former employees of Queens Defenders, other than her two children, who are former QD employees.

At the federal courthouse in Brooklyn Heights on Wednesday, Zeno appeared stoic as her charges were read out, and as her attorney, Anthony Ricco, delivered the not guilty plea.

Ricco, a well known New York defense attorney, recently quit the defense team for music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, and was appointed to defend Osama Bin Laden in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Zeno declined to comment outside of the courtroom in Brooklyn Heights on Wednesday just before being ushered away by Ricco. She was joined in the courthouse by friends and family.

She is charged with wire fraud, theft, money laundering conspiracy and criminal forfeiture.

The longtime leader and founder of Queens Defenders, and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, are accused of having used a credit card issued to the organization to fund a luxury vacation to Bali, a teeth-whitening procedure, a night at a high-end steakhouse and other personal purchases.

Prosecutors also say the pair lied to their co-workers, asking for reimbursements on personal expenses, like rent on their $6,000-a-month penthouse apartment while claiming the charges were business expenses.

The pair allegedly racked up over $10,000 worth of expenses on a personal vacation they took together to Bali in September 2024. They used a Queens Defenders credit card to pay for the trip, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors with the Eastern District of New York also alleged that Zeno used the organization’s corporate credit card to pay for over $1,700 in expenses at a luxury resort in Santa Monica, California.

They also allegedly used the card to pay for a $1,300 bill at a high-end restaurant in July 2024, a $5,200 purchase at a luxury goods store and a $1,300 purchase at a clothing store both in August 2024, the month the pair were wed in a religious ceremony that prosecutors say may not have been a legal marriage.

Ruhani also used the card on his own, prosecutors said, spending $2,600 at a steak house and $3,300 on an 85-inch smart television and its installment in his Astoria apartment, which they also paid for with the organization’s money.

According to prosecutors, Ruhani submitted reimbursement requests to Queens Defenders to pay for the luxury apartment and the utility bills he racked up while living there.

In all, the couple allegedly received $39,000 in reimbursements from Queens Defenders to pay for the apartment, according to the charges.

The founder and former Executive Director of Queens Defenders Lori Zeno was released on $500,000 bail at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

The couple allegedly attempted to cover up the fraud by hiring two people close to them to work as Zeno’s executive assistants and submit fake expense reports, prosecutors said. The workers were officially brought on to serve in non-existent positions with little to no responsibilities, a court document alleges. One of the employees brought on to help with the cover up, Ureka Washington, was Ruhani’s legal wife.

Ruhani was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this month after arriving in Queens after a trip to California.

Unlike Zeno however, Ruhani remains in custody due to what federal prosecutors described as a "significant history of serious violent crime” and was already on lifetime parole prior to the fraud case against him and Zeno.

Prosecutors said in court on Wednesday they did not consider Zeno to be a flight risk and have sufficient confidence to believe she will return to court when ordered.

Government lawyers also declined to comment on the reason behind the gap in time between Ruhani’s arrest and arraignment and Zeno’s.

The June 2 indictment came nearly six months after Zeno, her husband and two other Queens Defenders employees were forced out of the organization by the group’s board of directors. The board’s chair, Doneath Powell, did not publicly give a reason for Zeno’s ouster, but said in a letter to Queens Defenders staffers and attorneys in January that Zeno had been placed on leave “as a result of information” received by the board.

“We are deeply saddened by the nature of these allegations against two former employees,” Powell said in a statement following the indictment. “Queens Defenders holds itself to the highest standards of ethics and accountability. The alleged actions do not reflect who we are as an organization or the values we uphold. This is a difficult moment, but we are committed to transparency, accountability, and moving forward with strength and integrity.”

Powell did not comment on Zeno’s arraignment before presstime on Wednesday.

The fallout from Zeno’s ouster had reverberations for the entire Queens Defender’s organization.

The city promptly cut at least one major contract it had with Queens Defenders, handing the $32 million contract to provide legal services to indigent defendants over to Brooklyn Defender Services.

The move has resulted in a diminished Queens Defenders, whose criminal defense attorneys are expected to be hired by BDS by July 1, according to BDS. While Queens Defenders will continue to fulfill contracts it has to provide legal representation for tenants facing eviction, it will no longer have a criminal defense practice.

Just after she was ousted by the board, paralegals, legal assistants, program facilitators and other support staffers at Queens Defenders began unionize, which the employees had shied away from in the past out of fear of reprisal from Zeno, multiple staffers at Queens Defenders told the Eagle.

Zeno’s leadership of the organization has long been characterized as controversial.

Current and former Queens Defenders employees said Zeno had a temper and, according to one lawsuit, fostered an “abusive work environment.”

She had been sued multiple times for wrongfully terminating both lawyers and support staff alike who allegedly refused to fulfill her demands. Zeno was also accused of firing a number of attorneys who led the initial unionization effort at Queens Defenders, an organization that itself was born out of opposition to the unionization of the city’s public defenders.

The next status hearing for Zeno is scheduled for June 25.

Jacob Kaye contributed reporting