Former Executive Director of Brooklyn Not-for-Profit Sentenced for Contempt of Court
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 09, 2013 |
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Christiana M. Fisher, the former executive director of Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council Inc. (RBSCC), was sentenced today to one year of probation for permitting materially false documents about her compensation to be produced by RBSCC in response to a federal grand jury subpoena. Fisher previously pled guilty to one count of criminal contempt and was sentenced today by U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis, IV.
According to the information, the plea agreement, and statements made in court:
In September 2010, while Fisher was serving as the executive director of RBSCC, a not-for-profit corporation located in Brooklyn, New York, RBSCC received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The grand jury subpoena requested documents related to a significant increase in Fisher’s compensation. Fisher was aware of board documents and tax filings that inaccurately stated that RBSCC’s board of directors had approved increases to her salary and that the board did so based on an analysis of compensation paid to executive directors at comparable not-for-profit corporations.
Fisher participated in the process of producing documents in response to the grand jury subpoena. During that process, Fisher allowed the false board documents and tax filings to be provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and she understood that those documents misrepresented material facts. She also understood that allowing those documents to be produced would mislead the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in violation of the law governing the grand jury subpoena.
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In addition to the sentence of probation, Fisher, 57, of Queens, New York, was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and a mandatory $10 special assessment. She also has forfeited the amount of $170,659, which represents the amount RBSCC paid to her pursuant to the false board documents.
Mr. Bharara thanked the FBI and the New York City Department of Investigation for their assistance in this investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Carrie H. Cohen is in charge of the prosecution.