School Audit Scandal Balloons to $11.2M

Like a mammoth iceberg where just a fraction lies above the surface, the scope of the audit fraud at the Roslyn, N.Y., School District has, incredibly, passed the $11 million mark. A report on the fraud, released by New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, documented a far bigger plundering by former officials that previously thought as recently as late last year, when the losses at the Long Island district were estimated to be roughly $3 million. The report showed that former district officials siphoned funds from district coffers for items such as payments on personal mortgages on homes in New York and Florida, $609,000 spent at Home Depot, over $200,000 on lease payments for luxury cars, and more than $100,00 on trips to Las Vegas, San Francisco and a flight to London on the Concorde. Charged in the scandal are former Roslyn Schools superintendent Dr. Frank Tassone, former assistant superintendent for business Pamela Gluckin, and a former clerk, Deborah Rigano. All three are waiting indictment by the Nassau County Grand Jury. In addition, the state probe, which combed over district audits over an eight-year-period, has implicated an additional 26 people involved in the audit scam. The firm that audited the Roslyn Schools, Miller Lily & Pearce, which audited over 50 additional school districts and whose affiliate sold financial software to some 250 districts across New York state, recently shut its doors.