Courtesy of Ellis Kaplan/New York Post
Cecilia Chang, the former dean of St. John’s University in New York has been charged with forcing students to do chores for her or risk losing their scholarships. This follows charges she embezzled more than $1 million from the university during her tenure as a fundraiser.
During a routine internal audit at St. John’s, expenses submitted by Ms. Chang for reimbursement from a personal credit card raised suspicions. The explanations she gave did not convince university officials.
On Jan. 6, after 30 years of working at the college, Ms. Chang was suspended – then in June, she was fired from her job. On Wednesday, Ms. Chang was arrested on charges of embezzling about $1 million from the university, money that prosecutors said she used to pay for lingerie, trips to casinos and her son’s tuition bills.
Chang is also charged with allegedly forcing students to do her laundry, shovel snow, clean her house, cook and chauffeur her son around.
“Chang threatened the students and placed them in fear that if they refused to perform these personal services they would lose their scholarships and be unable to attend St. John’s,” FBI Special Agent Kenneth Hosey wrote in the arrest warrant.
Ms. Chang’s lawyer, Todd Greenburg, denied the charges saying, “Every dime this woman spent was spent on behalf of St. John’s University, entertaining the people St. John’s University told her to entertain.”
If convicted of all charges, Chang faces up to 25 years in prison.
