N.Y. Charity’s Ex-CFO Pleads Guilty in Larceny Scheme

The former chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty pleaded guilty Tuesday to grand larceny and conspiracy charges in connection with the $9-million kickback scheme that is also expected to send the social-service charity’s longtime director to prison, reports The Jewish Daily Forward.

Herbert Friedman admitted to receiving some $250,000 from the long-running scam from the early 1990s to 2009. He will be sentenced to four months in jail and must pay $775,000 in restitution.

William E. Rapfogel, who led the Metropolitan Council for two decades until the larceny scheme unraveled last year, pleaded guilty in April to larceny and other charges, as did his predecessor, David Cohen. Mr. Rapfogel, who will be sentenced in July, faces up to 10 years in prison for running the conspiracy, which involved inflated premium payments to the council’s insurance firm and kickbacks to charity leaders.