William Rapfogel To Plead Guilty in $7M Met Council Fraud Case

Image by met council
William Rapfogel, the ousted leader of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty in New York, reportedly will plead guilty for his role in a scheme to steal more than $7 million from the social service agency.
Rapfogel, who had served as CEO and president of the Met Council from 1992, was scheduled to enter a guilty plea in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Wednesday morning.
David Cohen, Rapfogel’s predecessor at the council, is also scheduled to plead guilty for his role in the scheme, according to the New York Times, citing people familiar with the case.
Rapfogel has agreed to pay substantial restitution, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources. The plea agreement is confidential.
Rapfogel was fired in August 2013 after financial irregularities were discovered in an investigation initiated by the Met Council’s board of directors. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the state comptroller’s office then opened a probe.
He was arrested in September and charged with grand larceny and money laundering.
Rapfogel had served as CEO and president of the Met Council from 1992.
“I deeply regret the mistakes I have made that led to my departure from the organization,” he said following his ouster by the social service agency.
Rapfogel allegedly inflated the Met Council’s health insurance payments by several hundred thousand dollars a year and then split the proceeds with politicians who supplied grants to the agency.
Rapfogel hosted an annual breakfast that draws many influential political figures.
The Met Council provides employment services, crisis intervention, emergency food and other programs for poor Jewish households.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump mandates universities to report foreign funding, a demand of pro-Israel groups
-
Fast Forward Exclusive: Trump nominee apologizes for praising Nazi sympathizer while awaiting Senate confirmation hearing
-
Fast Forward Global antisemitism has declined since Oct. 7, Tel Aviv University says
-
Yiddish World VIDEO: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commemoration highlights women ghetto fighters
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.