Lax Government Oversight Cited As Catalyst For Willie Rapfogel Scandal
MET COUNCIL **Scandal Tremors:* William Rapfogel?s resignation under a cloud of scandal is having repercussions for the Met Council on Jewish Poverty that he headed. Image by Getty Images
Lax government oversight may have enabled the scandal involving William Rapfogel, the former executive director of the Metropolitan Council for Jewish Poverty, according to The New York Times.
Nonprofit organizations may be overseen by multiple government agencies, creating “potential for some problems to be missed,” H. Tina Kim, a New York City deputy comptroller, was quoted as saying by the newspaper on Monday.
Rapfogel’s alleged financial misconduct was revealed by anonymous letter rather than government audit or oversight. An anonymous source cited by the Times said Rapfogel, who headed the Met Council for more than 20 years before his dismissal in August, inflated the social service agency’s health insurance payments by several hundred thousand dollars a year. He then split the proceeds with politicians who supplied grants to the Met Council.
The state Assembly has allocated up to $1 million in some years to the Met Council. Rapfogel is a childhood friend of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Rapfogel’s wife has been Silver’s chief of staff for more than 30 years.
“I deeply regret the mistakes I have made that led to my departure from the organization,” he said following his ouster by the Met Council.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
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.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
