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Met Council’s Rapfogel Checks Into Prison to Serve Term

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William Rapfogel was sentenced to 40 months to 10 years in prison.
William Rapfogel was sentenced to 40 months to 10 years in prison.
The former chief of New York’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, William Rapfogel, was finally sentenced for his participation in scheme that stole millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Met Council. According to a news release on Wednesday July 23rd, the by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Rapfogel was sentenced to 3 year 4 months to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.

At age 59, Rapfogel pled guilty back in April to stealing $9 million from the taxpayer-funded Met Council. This was done in a grand larceny and kickback scheme over the course of 20 years. Also, his co-defendants David Cohen, Herb Friedman and Joseph Ross have pleaded guilty.

According to Schneiderman, in order to obtain money to “fund a lavish lifestyle,” Rapfogel personally stole $3 million. In the news release Schneiderman said, “This sentence sends the message that there has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or powerful, and that those who rip off the neediest New Yorkers will be prosecuted.”

The statement also contained quotes from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. He called the fraud “shocking and very damaging to an organization that has literally helped countless people.”

DiNapoli said, “Those involved in this scam have been held accountable for their wrongdoing and this should serve as an example of what happens when individuals lose their way and become more focused on filling their own pockets than doing good works.”

Private sources along with taxpayer money from the city and state government fund the Met Council, which provides the poor and elderly in the New York City area with various services.

In 1992 the conspiracy began when Cohen and Ross, of the Century Coverage Corp., and Cohen had inflated insurance invoices submitted to the Met Council by Century Coverage. The inflated premiums were knowingly paid by the non-profit; Friedman, chief financial officer of the Met Council, and Cohen received kickbacks from Ross.

In 1993, Rapfogel took over the position of executive director and joined in on the scam and soon he started receiving his own kickbacks. According to Schneiderman, there was a point when Rapfogel was receiving around $30,000 every month, which was the largest share of the kickbacks.

Investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office searched various homes owned by Rapfogel in August 2013. Over $400,000 in cash was found hidden throughout the houses. At the time Rapfogel’s salary was greater than $400,000 and in New York political circles he was considered a power broker.

Ross was also instructed by Rapfogel and Cohen to use some of the money from the scheme to make donations to political candidates that could potentially benegit the Met Council.

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