Man whose firm provides special education services to yeshivas charged with embezzlement
![A yeshiva school bus drives through Borough Park, Brooklyn.](https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/9-15-2022-Yeshiva.jpg)
A yeshiva school bus drives through Borough Park, Brooklyn. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The man behind companies that provide special education services to several New York City yeshivas is facing charges that he embezzled almost $3 million from the state government.
Martin Handler was charged Wednesday with theft of government funds and wire fraud conspiracy, among other things, according to The New York Times.
Four partners are also being charged, including Handler’s brother.
Handler runs several companies that, in addition to providing special education services to yeshivas, also provide child care in the Hasidic community.
Handler and his codefendants all pleaded not guilty.
Among the schemes alleged by prosecutors were an after-school program that got reimbursed for children who weren’t enrolled in it. Handler is also accused of providing no-show jobs to family members of business associates.
The Times recently reported that vast sums of government money were being allocated to special education facilities in the New York Orthodox community for services that were sometimes not needed, with Handler’s firms being among the beneficiaries.
That article followed a bombshell investigation that discovered many yeshiva students were not receiving adequate secular education, with some being unable to speak or write in English or remember basic science facts. The Times also reported that some male yeshiva students were subject to corporal punishment. The recent reporting has led some within the Hasidic community to accuse The Times of targeting Jews, while others have said the articles shed much-needed light on the shortcomings of the yeshiva system.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.