Ex-Schechter School of Long Island CFO David Ostrove gave co-worker $30,000 gift in school funds, witness tells jury - Newsday.pdf

1. 3/8/24, 10:34 AM Ex-Schechter School of Long Island CFO David Ostrove gave co-worker $30,000 gift in school funds, witness tells jury - Newsday
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Newsday
Ex-Schechter School of Long
Island CFO David Ostrove gave co-
worker $30,000 gift in school
funds, witness tells jury
By Grant
Parpangrant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpanUpdated
February 29, 2024 12:03 pm
4 minutes
A Schechter School of Long Island business official
described a former colleague accused of stealing $8.4
million from the school as "very generous," saying she
once accepted a $30,000 check from him before learning
it was money that belonged to the school, she testified at
his criminal trial Wednesday.
Julia Hardy, the K-12 Jewish day school's business
director, said after learning her husband, a Navy
Reservist, was deployed to the Middle East in
September 2021, former Schechter School chief

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financial officer David Ostrove presented her with the
certified bank check to cover the loss of her husband's
civilian income.
"David was always very concerned with everyone's well
being," Hardy said in testimony at her former colleague's
trial. "... I felt very honored that he would do something
like that for me."
Hardy would learn later that school year, as Suffolk
County District Attorney investigators began to
investigate suspicious transactions involving the school's
PayPal accounts, that the funds she received from
Ostrove belonged to the school, she testified.
Ostrove, 52, of West Islip, is charged with first-degree
grand larceny and first-degree money laundering in the
trial before state Supreme Court Justice John Collins in
Riverhead. An 11-year employee of the school, he is
accused of diverting the funds over an eight-year period
from 2014-22 from school PayPal and Stripe accounts
into personal banking platforms and using the money to

3. 3/8/24, 10:34 AM Ex-Schechter School of Long Island CFO David Ostrove gave co-worker $30,000 gift in school funds, witness tells jury - Newsday
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buy three luxury vehicles, sports collectibles, historical
memorabilia, coins and five homes on Fire Island.
Hardy said she believed Ostrove, who earned an
$85,000 salary from the Williston Park school, had
established personal wealth through an earlier career in
finance, and that he raised the $30,000 on her behalf
with the support of colleagues.
After discussing the gift with her husband, she deposited
the money into a new bank account, and they planned to
only use it in an emergency.
"We decided to hold onto it as a safety net," Hardy said.
That changed eight months later, when the district
attorney's office reclaimed the funds through a civil
forfeiture filing, according to Hardy's testimony and court
records.
Ostrove was suspended from the school on April 21,
2022, and arrested less than three months later.

4. 3/8/24, 10:34 AM Ex-Schechter School of Long Island CFO David Ostrove gave co-worker $30,000 gift in school funds, witness tells jury - Newsday
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Five corporations Ostrove set up to purchase the Fire
Island homes were also charged with money laundering.
Prosecutors have said Ostrove earned $600,000 in
rental income from the properties between 2018 and
2022.
Hardy also testified that she maintained tuition records in
her role at the school. Ostrove has been accused by
prosecutors of removing three binders belonging to
Hardy on May 4, 2022, two weeks after he was
suspended and on the eve of a meeting investigators set
to review the records with school officials.
Yvonne Lyon, another former school business official,
said she had let Ostrove into the school business office
that evening as she sought help from him with her work.
Upon cross examination from defense attorney Ralph
Franco Jr., of Manhattan, Lyon said she had permission
from the former head of school to allow Ostrove to

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recover personal belongings from the office. Lyon said
she did not see Ostrove remove Hardy's binders.
The trial continues in Riverhead on Thursday.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal
courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined
Newsday in 2022.