Former Queens Defenders boss, ex-husband head to prison for fraud that ‘destroyed’ the nonprofit

Lori Zeno, second from left, leaves Brooklyn Federal Court after being sentenced to over three years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit in Queens she led for years. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

By Jacob Kaye

The former executive director of Queens Defenders and her ex-husband were sentenced to prison on Tuesday after siphoning off over $656,000 from the nonprofit, “effectively destroying" the organization that once represented tens of thousands of low-income clients facing criminal charges in the World’s Borough.

A federal judge ordered Lori Zeno, one of Queens Defenders’ co-founders and its former leader, to serve three years and six months behind bars for her role in stealing well over half a million dollars from the nonprofit, using the cash to pay for luxury vacations, designer clothes and a penthouse apartment in a new luxury tower in Astoria.

Rashad Ruhani, Zeno’s ex-husband who oversaw Queens Defenders’ youth program after being hired and promoted by Zeno, was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison.

Federal prosecutors said the pair, who were wed in a religious ceremony shortly after Ruhani began working at Queens Defenders in 2023, together schemed to drain the organization’s bank accounts, which were primarily filled by taxpayer-funded government contracts. They used a company credit card to pay for a $10,000 honeymoon in Bali, designer clothes, and teeth whitening procedures, and submitted a number of fraudulent expense reports to cover their rent at the high-rise apartment. They also worked together to hire a number of Ruhani’s family members to work no-show jobs, according to the charges.

While both said they bore some responsibility in the fraud, Zeno and Ruhani also pointed the finger at one another in the lead-up to their sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

Zeno described Ruhani, who had just completed a 26-year prison sentence for a violent robbery when he began working at Queens Defenders, as manipulative, and claimed he had taken advantage of her during a vulnerable time in which she was suffering from alcoholism and mental health issues. But Ruhani said Zeno had been the one to pursue a romantic relationship and gave him explicit permission to use the company card – his first credit card – to make personal purchases.

Federal Judge Rachel Kovner appeared on Tuesday to take the view that Zeno had a level of culpability in the fraud that she hadn’t quite admitted to in the court filings or during the tearful remarks she delivered in court.

“Mr. Ruhani wasn’t the person with the most power in this situation,” the judge said. “Ms. Zeno was the person who had the most power in the organization to make this happen.”

Together, Zeno and Ruhani will have to pay $656,349 in restitution to Queens Defenders, which lost out on $35 million in government contracts as a result of the fraud and has, as a result, had to shutter much of its legal practice and social services offerings.

Despite the shared responsibility for the theft, it will likely fall on Zeno to pay back the organization she founded. Her attorneys told the judge on Tuesday that she would likely sell her $1 million house in Garden City to cover the payments.

In a letter to the judge ahead of the sentencing hearing, Queens Defenders said the crime “resulted in an institutional catastrophe that has inseparably associated the name ‘Queens Defenders’ with scandal.”

After the fraud became public, the organization had to end its criminal defense practice, which was largely transferred over to Brooklyn Defender Services – most Queens Defenders attorneys were hired by BDS as part of the transition.

Queens Defenders was forced to close its Youth Justice Center in Far Rockaway and its food pantries, which fed 150 families each week. The organization also said that it lost its ability to pay for holiday meal giveaways, summer youth employment programs, community basketball tournaments and programs that taught Queens residents their constitutional rights.

The organization went from representing around 16,000 clients annually to being able to only provide eviction defense for around 1,500 clients in Queens Housing Court as part of its final remaining contract with New York City.

Zeno told the judge on Tuesday that she was “filled with shame and humiliation” after the fraud had been uncovered.

“I loved Queens Defenders,” Zeno said. “If given the choice, I would have cut my right arm off rather than hurt her. But I did hurt her.”

While Ruhani was sent back to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held since his arrest last June, Zeno was released on Tuesday.

She was ordered to voluntarily surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 28.