New York Woman Admits to Scamming More Than $180K from Jewish National Fund
A suburban New York woman admitted to stealing another person’s identity in order to scam more than $180,000 from the Jewish National Fund.
Marie Augustin, 42, of Westbury, Long Island, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Nassau County Court to third-degree larceny and first-degree identity theft, the The Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors said Augustin used a fake driver’s license in another person’s name and opened several bank accounts in the names of companies contracting with the Israel charity in order to cash checks stolen from the group’s office in Rockville Centre, L.I.
Augustin first came to the attention of authorities when she deposited a stolen check for $71,239.24 and then tried to withdraw the cash from the account.
She deposited two other large checks into other fake accounts, according to the Nassau County District Attorney. The identity theft victim had no ties to the JNF, the district attorney said, according to Long Beach Patch.
Augustin is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 29 to two consecutive terms of nine months in jail and required to pay $180,577.48 to the JNF.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO