Disgraced NYC legal aid bigwig blames ex-con lover as shes sent to prison for $100K embezzlement scheme
He stole her heart.The founder of the Queens Defenders legal aid group — who admitted to embezzling more than $100,000 from her own organization to fuel a lavish lifestyle — blamed her ex-con lover as she was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday.Lori Zeno, 66, claimed she was blinded by her feelings for her former employee-turned-co-defendant Rashad Ruhani, accusing him of pushing her to siphon from the non-profit to fund trips to Bali, luxury shopping sprees and a penthouse in Astoria.“The man that swore before God that he loved me actually didn’t, and the career I had spent over 40 years building ended in disgrace,” a teary-eyed Zeno said in Brooklyn federal court.“I was so filled with shame and humiliation that I cannot even describe it,” she claimed.But the plea didn’t seem to succeed in pulling Judge Rachel Kovner’s heartstrings, as the jurist sentenced Zeno to 3-and-a-half years behind bars.According to federal prosecutors, Zeno hired Ruhani, 56, to work for Queens Defenders in October 2023, when she served as executive director for the organization, which provided legal aid and community support services to low-income borough residents.Zeno and Ruhani married in a religious ceremony and the pair embarked on their fraudulent scheme in summer 2024, the feds said.Together, the lovebirds embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the legal group — blowing the cash on on foreign travel, fine dining and several other luxuries, prosecutors have said.Those included a $10,000 vacation to Bali, a $1,700 getaway to a Santa Monica luxury resort and a $3,300 85-inch TV that was installed in their penthouse pad, according to court papers.Zeno was leasing the $6,000-a-month apartment, and lived there with Ruhani, the documents show.He separately bilked the Queens Defenders of $39,000 to go toward their rent, claiming the penthouse was being used for “‘client defend’ and ‘foster parent Care,'” prosecutors wrote in the filings.Other fraudul...