New Hyde Park Woman Charged with Stealing Over $200K from Non-Profit

A New Hyde Park woman has been charged with stealing more than $200,000 from her employer and an autism awareness foundation run by her boss’s wife.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Pamela Efraimov, 39, was employed from 2005-12 as the personal assistant and bookkeeper to the president/owner of Katherine Bishop, Ltd., a woman’s apparel wholesaler. After her boss’s death in June 2010, his widow kept Efraimov on so she could close the books on the business. Efraimov also assisted the widow with the bookkeeping for The Nicholas Center for Autism and Spectrum Designs Foundation, a non-profit the widow founded.

The widow soon noticed in September 2012 that there were some irregularities with the cash deposits for the foundation and checks being written for Katherine Bishop were bouncing. The widow confronted Efraimov about the financial irregularities and fired her in October 2012. An immediate audit discovered that Efraimov had instructed the bank to stop sending paper statements and that she had altered 64 checks from January 2011 to September 2012 to hide that she had written the checks to herself, totaling more than $150,000.

The audit further revealed that Efraimov had made unauthorized transfers from the Katherine Bishop account to her personal bank accounts totaling more than $10,000, forged the widow’s signature on 73 checks made out to Efraimov totaling more than $45,000, and used the Katherine Bishop account to make online payments to her personal credit cards. Efraimov also used the cash to purchase luxury goods like Prada boots, Louis Vuitton handbags, and King Baby jewelry.

“Violating the trust of her employer is bad enough, but it is particularly appalling that this defendant victimized a grieving widow and a non-profit organization dedicated helping children with special needs,” Rice said in a statement. “For her deception and lies, all this defendant ended up with were some luxury accessories and a slew of felony of charges.”

Efraimov, was arrested Tuesday by Nassau District Attorney Investigators and charged with second degree grand larceny, second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and first degree falsifying business records. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted and will be arraigned in First District Court, Hempstead.

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