A former New York University finance director has been suspended from her new job at Yale after she was charged Monday with embezzling millions in funding for the Manhattan school for personal expenses – including an $80,000 swimming pool.
Over the course of six years, prosecutors said that 57-year-old Cindy Tappe used her senior position at the university to secure more than $3.4 million in grants to fund minority- and women-owned businesses in the communities she founded to put letterbox companies.
Tappe – who quit her job as finance director in 2018 when her alleged plan was exposed – has since taken up work as operations manager at Yale’s School of Medicine but was suspended on Monday after staff learned of the charges.
Tappe appeared in court handcuffed and pleaded not guilty to using the stolen money to fund what prosecutors called a “lavish lifestyle,” including at least $660,000 towards renovations on her sprawling Connecticut home and the above mentioned pool.
Tappe, who the Yale website describes as having “excellent knowledge of finance and grants and effective leadership and team building skills,” faces six counts of money laundering, grand larceny and fraud over the alleged six-year program and was released without bail Monday .
A former NYU finance director has been furloughed from her new job at Yale after she was charged Monday with embezzling millions in federal funds for personal expenses, including $660,000 to renovate her sprawling Connecticut home (pictured).
Tappe allegedly used the $3.4 million grant money earmarked for minority and women-owned businesses to fund what prosecutors called a “lavish lifestyle” — including an $80,000 pool
A spokesman for Yale — based in New Haven, not far from Tappe’s five-acre, multi-million dollar property in Westport — confirmed Tuesday that “Ms. Tappe was put on leave,” but declined to specify whether or not that leave was paid.
The elite school, which hired Tappe as operations manager in 2018, despite NYU staffers exposing her alleged misdeeds at the time, insisted in a statement Tuesday that Tappe was screened before she was hired.
“All prospective employees are subject to reference and background checks,” spokeswoman Karen Peat wrote.
Following her arraignment Monday, NYU spokesman John Beckman said the school — which reported the Tappes program to police when it was uncovered in 2018 — was “deeply disappointed that a staff member betrayed the trust we placed in her.” “.
Beckman said the school discovered “suspicious activity” by its officers in 2018, leading to Tappe tendering her resignation after being confronted with it.
“We are pleased that we were able to help stop this misallocation of taxpayers’ money,” Beckman said Monday.
Tappe’s Westport, Connecticut, home with the swimming pool she paid for with stolen cash, prosecutors allege
On Monday, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli alleged in Manhattan District Court that Tappe stole the money to “fund a lavish lifestyle,” including a variety of renovations to her Westport home, which is not far from her current one Employer Yale is away
According to Bragg’s office, Tappe channeled the money — starting from $23 million in grants awarded to an NYU center where she worked — through two companies she founded, as well as by creating false invoices for three subcontractors, one of which was Cut for no show without doing the work.
In Manhattan District Court, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli alleged that Tappe stole the money to “fund a lavish lifestyle,” with both DiNapoli and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claiming they had their plan concocted over six years from 2012 to 2018 using an elaborate system of shell companies to steal the money.
According to Bragg’s office, Tappe channeled the money — starting from $23 million in grant money awarded to an NYU center where she worked — through two companies she founded, as well as by creating false invoices for three subcontractors who served three to six percent received, a cut for no-show jobs without getting the job done.
The money should be spent on oversight of two state programs: one to help school districts improve outcomes for students learning English and another to ensure students in special schools receive fair treatment.
The money should be spent on oversight of two state programs: one to help school districts improve outcomes for students learning English and another to ensure students in special schools receive fair treatment.
Tappe took the $3.5 million in grant money and, instead of distributing it, sent it to the small group of subcontractors, who took a small share and then sent about $3.4 million to the shell companies she founded
Under the terms of the grants, a certain percentage had to go to women- and minority-owned companies, who would then administer these programs.
Tappe took the $3.5 million and, instead of distributing it, sent it to the small group of subcontractors, who took a small cut and then sent about $3.4 million to the shell companies she founded.
With the help of these shell companies – High Galaxy and PCM Group – she then spent the money, including the hundreds of thousands of dollars expended on her own personal expenses.
A program director found out about the program in 2018 and confronted her about it.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Monday that Tappe’s actions “have negatively impacted our city’s minority and women-owned businesses by denying them a chance to compete fairly.”
“Our multilingual learners and students with disabilities deserve world-class services, and those funds should have gone directly to their schools,” Bragg said.
“Instead, we allege that funds earmarked for student programs were used solely for personal gain by an NYU finance director who renovated a home in Connecticut and used the money to buy a swimming pool.
“This $3.5 million scam also negatively impacted our city’s minority and women-owned businesses by denying them an opportunity to fairly compete for and secure funding.”
An NYU spokesman said they were “deeply disappointed” by Tappe’s actions. They reported “suspicious activity” by their employee to police in 2018, but Tappe was still hired by
She emailed principals, telling them the school had established “good working relationships” with companies – but she was eventually fired and the case referred to DiNapoli’s office.
NYU, meanwhile, claims they are and are “deeply disappointed” that an employee could act in this way.
The school added that when confronted, Tappe misled school officials about her relationship with the subcontractors and shell companies before eventually leaving the school.
The missing funds were then reported to the Manhattan DA office, which launched a more than three-year investigation that culminated in Tappe’s arrest on Monday.
The investigation, saddened prosecutors, found the fraud began in 2012, when Tappe was promoted to director of finance and administration at NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and Transformation of Schools, and continued until school officials confronted her in September 2018.
When contacted Tuesday, Tappe’s attorney, Deborah Colson, declined to comment on her client’s case. If convicted, Tappe faces more than 25 years in prison.