Oliver Levy
Over $50,000 of school money is alleged to have been spent on personal items such as jewelry and luxury handbags.
Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace and New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that two former officials at the Greenburgh-Graham Union Free School District, which serves at-risk students from kindergarten to 12th grade, were arraigned today on an indictment charging them with multiple public corruption offenses.
Oliver Levy, the district’s former superintendent, and Surendra Kumar, a former security system specialist, were arraigned Wednesday morning before Westchester County Court Judge Anne Bianchi on the charges of Second-Degree and Third-Degree Grand Larceny as Crimes of Public Corruption, Second-Degree and Third-Degree Grand Larceny, and Corrupting the Government in the Second and Third Degrees.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
D.A. Cacace said: “Any theft of public funds represents a fundamental breach of public trust. That breach is amplified when the allegations concern an institution serving our most vulnerable. The funds in this case that were allegedly diverted to the defendants could have been used for student achievement. My office will work diligently to ensure that the students and parents at Greenburgh-Graham are made whole.”
Comptroller DiNapoli said: “School administrators allegedly stealing from students they are supposed to serve is reprehensible. My thanks to the Westchester County District Attorney’s office for partnering with my office and continuing to pursue justice in this case and holding these individuals accountable.”
As alleged in the felony complaint, Mr. Levy, who began as a teaching assistant in 2008 and was promoted to superintendent in 2018, aided, abetted, and acted in concert with Mr. Kumar, then a security system specialist, to purchase 168 gift cards between July 2018 and June 2022.
Instead of spending the full sum of these funds on school-related expenses, the defendants are accused of diverting over $50,000 from the gift cards to personal expenses, such as jewelry, luxury handbags, private school fees for relatives, and veterinary services.
Mr. Levy, 55, of Stony Point, and Mr. Kumar, 48, of Yonkers, were arrested in May 2024 by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. They have been released on their own recognizance. None of the charges are bail-eligible.
The top charge, Second-Degree Grand Larceny as a Crime of Public Corruption, carries a maximum potential sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.
The investigation was conducted by the Office of the New York State Comptroller and the Economic Crimes and Public Integrity Units of the Westchester District Attorney’s Criminal Investigators Squad.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheila Horgan.
