A jury found a West Islip man guilty of stealing over $8.4 million from a Williston Park private school, where he served as its chief financial and technology officer for eleven years.
Between March 2014 and April 2022, David Ostrove used the Schechter School of Long Island’s accounts to transfer over $8 million dollars of school funds into his own personal accounts. With the stolen funds, Ostrove purchased vehicles for personal use including a 1965 Mustang, a Lincoln Aviator, and a Mercedes Benz. He also acquired five beach houses on Fire Island, which were purchased using five different shell corporations created to purposefully shield Ostrove from being identified as the owner. Ostrove further used the illegal proceeds to pay for more than $1.4 million dollars’ worth of renovations on the beach homes, and then collected over $600,000 in rental income from them.
The vehicles and real estate were seized pursuant to a court order obtained by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in a separate civil forfeiture proceeding. That civil case is still pending and will resume following Ostrove’s sentencing in the criminal case.
In addition to buying homes and cars, Ostrove used the stolen funds to pay for his daughter’s college tuition, to make payments on his home equity loan for his West Islip home, cover personal travel expenses, and finance the purchase of expensive sports and political memorabilia and collectible coins which he would then have auctioned off for his own profit. The stolen funds were also used to buy high-end clothing and jewelry stores, limousine trips, and more than $1 million in cash withdrawals.
On March 12, 2024, Ostrove was convicted of first-degree grand larceny and first-degree money laundering, both Class B felonies, after a jury trial heard before Supreme Court Judge John B. Collins. Additionally, Ostrove’s corporation, BND Street Investors, Inc., was found guilty of first-degree money laundering, and his other corporations – TD Partners Equity, Inc., Elliso Holdings, Inc., Triangle Properties F.I., Inc., and Bayview Rentals Inc. – were each found guilty of second-degree money laundering, a Class C felony.
“While David Ostrove was entrusted to manage this money to benefit the children of the Schechter School, he was secretly lining his own pockets,” said District Attorney Raymond Tierney. “The jury here concluded that the defendant’s lavish lifestyle was funded using the tuition dollars of the hardworking parents of the Schechter School students and, thankfully, the jury held him accountable.”
Collins ordered Ostrove remanded during the pendency of his case. He is due back in court for sentencing on April 17, 2024, and faces up to 25 years in prison.