The former director of a Queens public defender organization was sentenced on Tuesday to three-and-a-half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy for looting the nonprofit for personal gain.
Queens Defenders cofounder Lori Zeno, 66, and ex-husband Rashad Ruhani admitted to stealing more than $400,000 from the nonprofit, which provided legal services to 16,000 low-income New Yorkers in criminal and civil courts each year, ultimately destabilizing the decades-old institution.
Ruhani, 57, who also used to work for the organization, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Both agreed to pay more than $650,000 in restitution. U.S. District Judge Rachel P. Kovner also ordered them to pay more than $100,000 each in forfeiture money judgments.
Federal prosecutors accused the pair of using the organization’s funds on a trip to Bali, a stay at a luxury hotel in California, pricey restaurant meals and luxury shopping sprees. Prosecutors said they also used the nonprofit’s money to rent a penthouse apartment, buy an 85-inch smart TV and get their teeth whitened.
“Lori Zeno did not just steal funds; she weaponized her position of trust to destroy an embedded and impactful provider within the Queens justice system,” the organization said in a letter to the judge ahead of her sentencing. “While our clients were facing the most terrifying moments of their lives — facing criminal charges and fighting for their freedom — the defendant was using the funds meant for their defense to finance a life of obscene luxury.”
Zeno tearfully apologized in court and said she was ashamed that the career she had spent 40 years building “ended in disgrace.” Zeno said she had spent the last year trying to understand how she had allowed her life to spiral while in a relationship with a man she thought would love her forever.
“How did my life get so out of control so fast right under my nose?” she said. “I’m not a stupid woman.”
Since her arrest, Zeno said, there have been days when she didn’t want to live, because she didn’t feel like she deserved it. She sobbed as she spoke about the programs that have lost funding in the wake of her actions, including a youth mentorship program that she said got young people out of gangs and into college.
“I loved Queens Defenders, and given the choice, I would have cut my right arm off rather than hurt her,” she said. “But I did hurt her.”
About 150 employees were forced to transfer to Brooklyn Defender Services, which provides lesser benefits, according to the organization's letter, while dozens of staff members lost their jobs.
The ripple effects of the scheme also destroyed several of Queens Defenders’ community programs, including the closure of food pantries and a justice center in Far Rockaway.
Zeno told the judge only God could forgive her, because she could not forgive herself. She said she had spent the past year in mental health counseling, group therapy and daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to understand how her mental illness, alcoholism and past traumas had made her “vulnerable.”
Defense attorney Anthony Ricco asked the judge not to impose a prison sentence. He said Ruhani was the one who needed the money — not Zeno, who already had a million-dollar home and a high-paying job. Tax records show she earned about $600,000 in 2024 — the same year prosecutors say the fraud scheme started. That’s higher than the top executives at any of the other major public defender organizations in the city, according to tax filings.
Ricco said Ruhani was the one who was primarily living in the penthouse and that his family members and friends received “low-show” or “no-show jobs.”
Ruhani started working for Queens Defenders in 2023 after serving 26 years in state prison on first-degree robbery and grand larceny charges, according to incarceration records. His defense attorney said Tuesday that a judge recommended him for the job after seeing him volunteer with young people in court.
“It was my intention to show the best version of myself after my release,” Ruhani said at his sentencing.
He said the job had afforded him credibility, and that he had misused both the credit card and the trust he was given.
Judge Kovner said Ruhani didn’t have the most power in this situation, but that “anybody would know this was the wrong thing to do.”
“This is a serious crime that led to huge negative consequences," she said.
When Zeno and Ruhani’s actions came to light, Queens Defenders lost $35 million in contracts to represent low-income clients, as well as several city and state contracts to provide community support, according to the letter. The organization still exists but in a much diminished capacity.
The organization also ran out of money to provide holiday meal giveaways, summer youth employment programs, basketball tournaments and educational programs about constitutional rights.
The organization, in the letter, asked for “a sentence that reflects the scale of this total betrayal.”
Zeno, who will surrender to federal custody in late September, declined to comment outside of court after the sentencing. Her defense attorney asked for her to be incarcerated at a facility where she can receive medical treatment.
This story has been updated with additional information.
