The Met Council was compelled to agree to a long series reforms including instituting a code of ethics, along with whistleblower, conflict of interest, and anti-nepotism policies. It will also hire a general counsel and chief compliance officer, create a board of directors governance committee, separate audit and finance committees, and hire a new outside auditor. And that is only a portion of the governace reforms NYC's Jewish anti-poverty charity was forced to make.
William E. Rapfogel and two unidentified law enforcement officials
Originally posted at 10:03 pm CST 12-19-2013
NY State AG & Comptroller Allow Scandal-Plagued Metropolitan Council On Jewish Poverty To Resume Receiving Public Funding – With Many Strings Attached
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
New York ’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and its Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli have just cleared the scandal-ridden Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to resume receiving state funding, but the resumption in funding comes with many strings attached. The announcement was made late Thursday afternoon, the Daily News reported.
The Met Council was compelled to agree to a long series reforms including instituting a code of ethics, along with whistleblower, conflict of interest, and anti-nepotism policies. It will also hire a general counsel and chief compliance officer, create a board of directors governance committee, separate audit and finance committees, and hire a new outside auditor.
The Met Council also agreed to appoint two new independent directors to the board approved by the state comptroller and two New York City. Additionally, the Met Council’s board will go through annual training and will have to submit to monitoring by an outside inspector general.
"The fact that former Met Council employees and conspirators were able to carry out a large-scale fraud over an extended period of time raised serious questions about the misuse of public funds," Schneiderman reportedly said.
“There must be accountability for public money and ramifications when wrongdoing happens. Our office will carefully scrutinize state contracts and payments with Met Council to ensure that taxpayers get what they pay for, as well as continue to work with Attorney General Schneiderman on this ongoing investigation," DiNapoli reportedly added.
The Met Council also reportedly reached agreement with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Contract Services to establish a corrective action plan, and reached another agreement with New York City’s Department of Investigation to establish monitoring of the Met Council’s compliance with the law and with various city regulations and stipulations governing the money it gives to the Met Council.
The Met Council has been in crisis since late August, when it fired its long-time CEO, William E. Rapfogel.
Rapfogel – who is Modern Orthodox – has since been indicted for heading a scheme that allegedly defrauded the New York City Jewish community’s anti-poverty charity of more than $7 million.
Rapfogel allegedly kept more than $1 million of that stolen money for himself. Most of the rest went to co-conspirators but some – the total amount has yet to be determined – was used by Rapfogel to endear himself to politicians. Rapfogel and his co-conspirators bundled the money and allegedly contributed it to the campaigns of city and state officials who sent public money to Met Council.
At least two of Rapfogel's co-conspirators, Rabbi David Cohen and Joseph "Yossi" Ross, are haredi.
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