New York – The District Attorney of Brooklyn Ken Thompson today announced that the former chief financial officer of Aish HaTorah New York has been indicted for embezzling more than $237,000 from the Jewish outreach organization.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant abandoned his duty to safeguard Aish HaTorah’s finances and allegedly stole $237,477 in charitable donations from this venerable non-profit organization. He will now be held accountable.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jacob Fetman, 45, of 1743 Ocean Avenue in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. He was charged in an indictment with one count of second-degree grand larceny. Fetman surrendered today and was arraigned before Supreme Court Justice James Sullivan, who set bail at $25,000 and ordered the defendant to return to court on February 4, 2015. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
According to the investigation, Fetman was the Chief Financial Officer of Aish HaTorah New York for 17 years and worked at Aish’s West 46th Street, Manhattan, location. Aish HaTorah is an international non-profit organization that promotes Jewish culture and spirituality through education and social programs and travel to Israel.
From November 4, 2010 through August 21, 2013, Fetman allegedly deposited donations given to Aish for some of its endeavors into three separate bank accounts for which Fetman was the sole signatory. He then allegedly transferred $922,931.74 of this money into a bank account he controlled for Merkaz, the Center, a religious organization for which Fetman was a trustee and which was located at his home address. Merkaz is not part of Aish and, according to the investigation, Fetman was not authorized to do this.
During this time, Fetman also allegedly deposited a total of $685,454.43 into a separate Aish account with a different bank. The resulting net loss to Aish was $237,477.31. Fetman was fired when Aish officials discovered this.