[nfbmi-talk] stealing from pwd goes on all the time

[joe harcz Comcast]

Education company boss pleads guilty to stealing millions in government money meant for special needs children

 

Cheon Park, 46, pleaded guilty Friday to using his company, Bilingual SEIT, to overbill and accept kickbacks for tutoring and therapy services for three-

to five-year-old kids.

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By

Dareh Gregorian /

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Friday, March 7, 2014, 4:25 PM

 

MR

 

Tom Grill/Getty Images

 

Cheon Park, 46, pleaded guilty Friday in Manhattan Federal Court to stealing the funds meant to serve children at his Bilingual SEIT organization.

 

The head of a Manhattan-based education company admitted on Friday to stealing millions in federal, state and city aid that was aimed at helping special

needs kids.

 

Cheon Park, 46, pleaded guilty to mail fraud for using his company, Bilingual SEIT, to overbill and accept kickbacks for tutoring and therapy services for

three- to five-year-old kids.

 

He faces up to 20 years behind bars when he’s sentenced on July 29, and agreed to pay over $4 million in forfeiture and restitution payments.

 

Park used some of his ill-gotten gains to give his ex-wife and former sister-in-law no-show jobs, and used one of his government funded employees to clean

his house twice a week, the feds said.

 

He also used his agency to provide free tutoring services to his own kids, prosecutors said.

 

Park “has admitted his role in a criminal scheme to enrich himself by taking federal, state and city funds intended for special needs children and diverting

them for his own personal use,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

 

The feds said Park owned and operated Bilingual SEIT — which was supposed to provide services for kids with physical, emotional and developmental disabilities

— between 2005 and 2012, and was paid over $94 million by various government entities in that time.

 

The agency operated out of five different locations in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

 

The scheme unraveled after a 2011 audit by the state controller’s office found the Manhasset man had approved $1.5 million in payments that should have

been disallowed.

 

Source:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/education-company-boss-pleads-guilty-stealing-millions-article-1.1714530