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The finance director of a prestigious Long Island private school has been sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of stealing more than $8 million to buy a portfolio of homes, classic cars and jewelry.
Fraudster David Ostrove, 52, spent 10 years as the CFO at $26,000-a-year Schechter School of Long Island.
It was during that time while he in such a trusted position he was able to siphon millions of dollars from the school's coffers through shell corporations.
During his sentencing, Ostrove was told that he will need to repay all the money he stole.
Among his extravagances, Ostrove purchased five lavish properties in Ocean Beach on New York's Fire Island, a 1965 Ford Mustang, and collections of sports memorabilia.
He also used some of the stolen cash to pay for his daughter to go to college and buy political and sports memorabilia together with designer clothing and jewelry. He also went on some flashy vacations.
Fraudster David Ostrove, 52, has been sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison after being convicted of siphoning $8 million from his school's coffers through shell corporations
Ostrove used the funds to purchase homes on Fire Island and rent them out, receiving over $600,000 in profit
Following his conviction, Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said: 'While David Ostrove was entrusted to manage this money to benefit the children of the Schechter School, he was secretly lining his own pockets.
'The jury here concluded that the defendant's lavish lifestyle was funded using the tuition dollars of the hardworking parents of the Schechter School students and, thankfully, the jury held him accountable,' Tierney said.
The prosecutor said he began the fraud scheme in 2014, using five different shell operations to siphon millions.
According to a $35 million lawsuit the school filed against Ostrove in January, he would hide the funds by setting up a PayPal account in the school's name and depositing the stolen money into it.
And in 2018, he also set up a gift-card scheme that raised money for the Schechter School, but also stole $1.58 million from the program using one of his shell corporations.
The swindled $8 million also included fraudulent expense reports that saw him collect around $800,000, the lawsuit said.
'The jury here concluded that the defendant's lavish lifestyle was funded using the tuition dollars of the hardworking parents of the Schechter School students, and thankfully, the jury held him accountable,' DA Tierney said at the time of his conviction, last month.
Much of the ill-gotten gains went towards Ostrove's portfolio of five properties on Fire Island, including two worth $1.3 million and $1.8 million, within minutes of each other.
One of Ostrove's Fire Island properties, worth $1.8 million
Ostrove also owned this $1.2 million property, just minutes from his $1.8 million home
The swindler also put the stolen money into sports memorabilia and a 1965 Mustang (seen in a stock image)
Ostrove was the Director of Finance at the $26,000-a-year Schechter School of Long Island
The finance director will be jail for between eight to 25 years and has been he must repay the stolen cash
The finance director had used $1.4 million of his stole funds to upgrade the homes, but is said to have made upwards of $600,000 by renting out his Fire Island properties.
Ostrove's spending spree also focused on rare collections of sports and political memorabilia, and cars including a classic 1965 Ford Mustang.
His car collection was also made up of a Lincoln Aviator SUV and a Mercedes Benz.
Ostrove's is said to have used some of the stolen money to pay for his own daughter's education too.
'Back when he was flushed with other people's money, he was a pompous a**,' attorney Steven Bertolino, told Fox Business.
'When he purchased the Fire Island property, I wound up throwing him out of my office because he was so obtuse and abusive. It was COVID, and some of the people involved swore up and down how he was such a great guy. Of course, I said he wasn't, and it's nice to be right,' Bertolino said.
Prior to his conviction, the Schecter School told DailyMail.com that the mass fraud was 'chilling', and if convicted would have been 'guilty of something beyond the theft of cash: the destruction of trust.'
The school added: 'While dollars have allegedly been embezzled, what can't be stolen is the future of the Schechter School.
'We will emerge from this experience stronger, wiser, and with a cautionary tale for every institution that today's online financial technology can be the burglar's weapon of choice.'
