We were worried there for a minute that convicted thief Pedro Espada, Jr. would quickly fade from the public consciousness now that his embezzlement trial is over, taking his crucifix and conspiracy theories with him. But have no fear—the disgraced ex-State Senator from Bronxchester will be haunting the Brooklyn federal courthouse steps for months to come, because sources tell the Wall Street Journal the feds are expected to prosecute Espada all over again on the four federal counts on which a jury couldn't agree. more ›

The most obstinate holdout juror who, despite mountains of evidence, found Pedro Espada, Jr. not guilty of embezzlement just so happens to work for JP Morgan Chase, which, you may recall, has been in the news recently for its own shady financial activity. Fifteen minutes into deliberations, Chase employee Fabiola St. Phar reportedly jumped up from her seat and declared, "He’s innocent! He’s innocent! He’s innocent and I’m not going to change my mind," another juror tells the Daily News. See, who needs prayers, protective red clothing and crucifixes when you've got the hazy moral twilight culture of the banking industry to protect you? more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Bronx Democrat Pedro Espada, Jr. has been found guilty on at least four counts of theft, reports Capital Tonight. Toward the end of last week, the jury asked the judge if they could submit a partial verdict in the embezzlement trial of Espada and his son Pedro, who are accused of siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars out of Espada Jr.'s non-profit health clinic to pay for their lavish lifestyle. Jurors have gone back to deliberating on the other charges of embezzlement and three counts of conspiracy. . more ›

The jury is still agonizing over the fate of disgraced ex-state Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and his son Pedro G. They're accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit health network in the Bronx that Espada founded and funneled taxpayer money into before he lost his Senate seat amid a widening corruption scandal. The jury has sent notes to the judge insisting they're deadlocked, informing him that jurors are screaming and cursing at each other. But Espada says there's a simple explanation for the jury's consternation: black magic. more ›

The specter of a mistrial looms in the juicy embezzlement trial of disgraced ex-State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., who's accused of funneling taxpayer dollars into a non-profit health clinic he operates, and then using clinic funds to finance a lavish lifestyle in Westchester. During three days of deliberations, the juries sent multiple notes to the judge reporting extreme consternation among the jurors, and at one point judge Frederic Block told the courtroom, "There seems to be some turbulence or screaming and stuff like that in the jury room." Hey wait a minute, Pedro's not supposed to be in there! more ›

A Staten Island couple pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court yesterday to embezzling nearly $3 million in government funds meant to feed hungry children at a nonprofit nursery program they ran. Instead, they used the extra cash to pay Manhattan condo mortgages, pump up their for-profit businesses and finance renovations at their for-profit nurseries. more ›

The Soundview Health Clinic run by former State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. was running low on medical supplies while the disgraced Bronxchester politician spent over $500,000 of Soundview money to pay for his lavish lifestyle, a former clinic employee testified yesterday. "We were constantly running low on medical supplies,” Maria Dolores Cruz, one of three original employees of the Soundview Health Care Network, testified yesterday at Espada's embezzlement trial. "The patients would come in to get their dentures and their dentures would not be there.” Meanwhile, Espada was allegedly raiding the non-profit's coffers to cover this laundry-list of luxuries: more ›

The problem with embezzling from your job is that eventually, you will get caught. If only somebody had warned NJ Transit employees Robert Broschart, 49, and Phillip Swnager, 45, though. The pair this week were charged with defrauding the system out of thousands of dollars in ticket fares. more ›

In the annals of embezzlement we've seen people take money from all sorts of places. Churches, banks, hospitals, government agencies, PTAs, bridge tolls, unions and so on. And now, with the guilty plea of 54-year-old Margo Reed, we can add overdue library fines to that list. more ›

A 67-year-old employee of the Archdiocese of New York has been accused of stealing more than $1 million from the church. According to the Manhattan DA's office Anita Collins allegedly wrote herself more than 450 checks from the church, all under $2,500, over more than eight years. The worst part about the story? Collins has previously been busted for financial shenanigans. Twice. The church just wasn't doing criminal background checks when she was hired in 2003. more ›

Earlier this summer federal prosecutors charged ex-Citigroup VP Gary Foster of embezzling millions from the bank into personal accounts and yesterday he plead guilty to one count of bank fraud. The legally blind banker now faces a maximum of ten years in the slammer for making off with $22.9 million between September 2003 and June 2011. more ›

While we debate Hizzoner's white lies about the Goldsmith imbroglio, keep in mind there is a much pricier scandal that should make everyone thoroughly pissed. Back in June, Mayor Bloomberg finally admitted in a press conference that the $740 million CityTime disaster was in fact not a "pretty good job" as he'd previously stated, but a debacle that "nobody paid as much attention to it as they should have, from me on down, and we’re going to find out who did what." However, three sources tell the Post that at least one city official did pay attention, and warned Bloomberg's advisors that CityTime was a huge waste of money, and should have been scrapped. more ›

A Cobble Hill mother and former PTA Treasurer who is accused of embezzling $82,000 from the organization will avoid jail time if she pays back the money, plus interest. Providence Hogan, who owns Providence Day Spa, allegedly used the money for fertility treatments, rent, and to "keep her family living in the lifestyle they were accustomed to." Her appearance in court today was accompanied by concerned parents from PS 29, including the PTA's co-treasurer, who told the Daily News that they "had serious budget cuts this year and the money is sorely needed." Forget the budget: PS 29 also had its playground incinerated and the Pledge of Allegiance nixed. If David Simon's looking for a (watchable) follow-up to The Wire he should look no farther than Cobble Hill. more ›

Now that Bloomberg has politely asked for the city's $600 million back from the contractor involved in the CityTime fiasco (they said: maybe) and the government has seized $28.5 million in stolen funds from the defendants, US attorneys and the city's Department of Investigation are honing in on some of the city employees that made the scandal possible and oh so lucrative. "They want city officials," a source who's been questioned by authorities tells the Post, "They're brutal, the pressure they're putting on." more ›

Yesterday federal prosecutors announced they had arrested 35-year-old ex-Citigroup VP Gary Foster for embezzling $19.2 million from the bank into his personal accounts (at Chase, natch). And now we're getting to hear all the fun details about what Foster, who until January earned $100,000 annually as an assistant V.P. in the bank's treasury finance department, spent his stolen bucks on. Like that Maserati GranTurismo and BMW 550i he bought, and the chauffeur to drive him around in because he is legally blind. more ›

According to federal prosecutors, former Citigroup Vice President Gary Foster "used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job." While at the bank Foster, 35, allegedly used his knowledge to embezzle $19.2 million into a personal bank account in a series of secret money transfers. more ›

A mother and son duo who are accused of stealing over $16 million from two SoHo textile companies pleaded not guilty on grand larceny and money laundering charges today. Prosecutors say that bookkeeper Judy Del Galdo embezzled the money from her employers at Hi-Fashion Fabrics, Inc. and Timeless Treasures Fabrics, Inc., in order to maintain a lavish lifestyle for her and her son Joseph, which included yachting, jetting, and cruising in a $127,000 Mercedes. more ›

There seems to be another story every week about waiters teaming up to reclaim their tips from penny-pinching bosses, so there is something refreshing about a waiter who turned the tables, instead allegedly pilfering $91,000 in fake tips from his employer, Todd English's Olives restaurant off Union Square. Investigators say that for the past two years 33-year-old waiter Mohammad Siraj would just add extra tip money onto his checks in the restaurant's computer. more ›

For a technocrat with an inarguably successful business track record, Mike Bloomberg's administration sure keeps having problems with scheming computer contractors. On top of the epic $80 million CityTime scandal and the $3.6 million the DOE last week revealed it lost to a "housewife-next-door" loving computer contractor, a high-level DOE executive is now under investigation for "potential corruption and conflict of interest" regarding his relationship with a consulting firm that has a $43 million contract with the Department. more ›

One might reasonably assume that any parent who gets involved with the PTA is doing so for altruistic reasons, or because they want to ensure that their kid will get into that exclusive AP Biology class, or worst case scenario, because they really want to bang a 13-year-old. But then, you'd be ignoring the fact that the PTA is a really just a cash cow grazing idly, waiting to be milked by someone. And one Brooklyn Brownstone farm hand is accused of milking that cow for all she could. more ›

Jack Donaghy would not be amused. Queens prosecutors say that former 30 Rock production accountant Matthew Rudolph stole $14,000 from the NBC comedy over the course of the last season. (Why Queens prosecutors? The show films at Silvercup.) According to DA Richard Brown, Rudolph forged two checks made out to himself and used his company credit card for personal use before being shown the door. You would think an accountant would be better at stealing. In the meantime, we wonder how long till there is an embezzling accountant on the staff of TGS... more ›

Travis Coley, 19, thought he had it made. Last year the Bronx native got a gig working as a toll collector on the Throgs Neck Bridge and allegedly started swiping change almost immediately. As he put it in a confession: “I figured out this scheme from my training and my experience in the toll booth,” and “when I realized that I would not get caught doing it, I continued to do it for months.” Except he did get caught, and now he is facing up to seven years in prison for stealing roughly $16,000 in tolls. more ›

Fallout from Wednesday's revelations about just how bad the city's CityTime situation was—the $60 million project to streamline employee time keeping ballooned into a $722 million project, at least $80 million of which appears to have gone to crooked quality assurance contractors—has begun. Trying to make the most of a messy situation the city yesterday not only suspended an employee who should have stopped the debacle but also announced it had seized a big bag of cash from the crooks. more ›

Last month cops busted a Columbia employee, George Castro, after he allegedly siphoned $4+ million of the university's cash into a private bank account. Though Castro pled not guilty yesterday, that doesn't mean the police stopped looking for the missing loot. And they didn't have to look far. Less than two days after Castro's arrest the Manhattan DA's Cybercrime and Major Economic Crime bureaus say they had not only identified the banks where the crook was keeping his cash, but were able to seize and freeze a good $4 million of it. "We got to him quickly before the money could be dissipated," Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance told the Post. more ›

Back in 2007, the city thought it could save $60 million by installing biometric scanners to keep track of employees' time (CityTime, they called it). But years later the city has spent $722 million extra because the project is, well, a huge mess of bloated salaries to consultants and overruns ("an endless money pit," Comptroller John Liu called it). And now an already embarrassing situation has gotten distinctly worse. Four consultants hired to run quality assurance have been accused of taking $80 million in "an elaborate fraud and kickback scheme" that involved faked time sheets (ha!) and a series of shell companies. According to the suit the suspected ringleader even got his mom and his wife in on the scheme! more ›

A very naughty nun must be dealing with some serious Catholic guilt today after she was charged with embezzling more than $1.2 million from a Westchester college. Sister Marie Thornton, 62, worked as vice president of finance at Iona College in New Rochelle, and is accused of stealing the money from the Catholic school over the last decade, by submitting false invoices and using a college-issued credit card for personal expenses. more ›

Another day, another depressing story about people stealing from the needy. A week after Marque Gumbs was busted for allegedly stealing millions in printer toner from a cancer hospital, comes the story of four women (three of whom are or had been city employees) accused of stealing $8 million in food stamps. more ›

The Post today adds a little color to the story of Marque Gumbs, the man who allegedly stole $4+ million from Memorial Sloan-Kettering in toner cartridges. According to a neighbor in the Trump Tower in New Rochelle "He kept to himself—'Hello' was the extent of our interaction...But he had a different woman with him every time—all attractive." And another "always wondered where he got his car, his jewelry and his women." As for Gumbs' defense, his lawyer says he is being scapegoated: "possibly, the hospital was embarrassed about this waste, and decided to throw my client under the bus." So how did he afford that BMW on a $37k salary again? more ›

Another day, another case of employees embezzling cash from their employers. Though less absurd than the guy who took $3.4 million in a month from Columbia University, the story of Marque Gumbs, who is being accused of stealing many millions of dollars from the prestigious cancer hospital Memorial Sloan-Kettering, is a touch more upsetting since Gumbs was, well, esentially taking money from sick cancer patients. more ›

OK budding embezzlers, we sort of thought at this point we wouldn't have to explain this to you, but here goes: If you are going to siphon cash from your place of business into a private bank account (let's say, around $4.4 million) you really don't want to do it in seven-digit chunks. You'd be much better served with the Office Space-style hundredth-of-a-penny-at-a-time method (just don't do that all at once, either—see the movie). more ›