Eleven defendants; four of which are day care owners throughout New York City and seven New York City officials of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) were arrested and federally charged for operating a massive day care and bribery fraud scheme which allegedly conned the HRA of more than $18 million.
The investigation identifies the four day care owners as Liudmila Umarov, Lyudmila Grushko, Yana Krugly, and Rimma Volovnick, and the seven HRA and ACS officials as Aurora Villareal, Dionne Rivers-Ettu, Emile Nekhala, Carolyn Eason, and Maria Rapoport, for operating and/or participating in a massive day care subsidy fraud scheme.
It was alleged that between 2007 and August 2010, the four day care owners operated an extensive scheme to defraud the New York City Day Care Subsidy Program, a state and federal funded program which subsidizes eligible parents’ day care costs.
These four defendants allegedly made corrupt payments of approximately $1 million to the seven identified HRA and ACS officials, for services and confidential information, such as names of eligible low-income families. The seven corrupted officials also purportedly steered low-income parents and families to enroll their children in the day care programs provided by the Umarov, Grushko, Krugly or Volovnik.
After receiving the names of these families, the four day care owners allegedly used these names to request and receive reimbursement for providing day care services to children who were never enrolled in their day care. The four day care owners received approximately $18 million for services never provided.
If convicted, each of the 11 defendants faces approximately 25 years in prison.
