Marcus Santos// New York Daily New
William Rapfogel under arrest last week in Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty scandal. Now another CEO has resigned in fallout.
ALBANY — The $ 183,000-a-year CEO of a volunteer ambulance service has resigned amid allegations that he was involved in the charity scandal that led to the arrest of a close friend of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Rabbi David Cohen submitted his resignation to the board of Chevra Hatzalah over the weekend, said David Shipper, an attorney for the ambulance corps and a member of its board.
“His resignation did not cite a reason,” Shipper said.
But it came just days after Cohen was revealed to be one of two alleged co-conspirators mentioned in the complaint against William Rapfogel, the former chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a multimillion-dollar nonprofit social services agency.
Rapfogel, a close friend of Silver’s, was stripped of his position at the Met Council in August and charged last week with using inflated insurance bills to siphon millions of dollars from the social service organization.
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Cohen had been leader of the Met Council before Rapfogel took over in 1992 and then stayed on as a consultant. He was also let go from the Met Council in August.
According to the complaint brought by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the kickback scheme began before Rapfogel joined the Met Council.
Cohen’s attorney, Alan Abramson, declined to comment.
The other alleged co-conspirator was Joseph Ross, owner of Century Coverage Corp., a Long Island insurance broker. Ross’ attorney, Benjamin Brafman, also declined to comment.
Neither Ross nor Cohen has been charged in the case.
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Rapfogel pocketed nearly $ 1 million from the scheme, according to the criminal complaint. Rapfogel, who earned $ 417,000 a year at the Met Council, also allegedly steered donations from the insurance company to political candidates close to his organization.
Silver has said he was “stunned and saddened” by the accusations against Rapfogel, whose wife, Judy, works as the Assembly speaker’s chief of staff.
Officials say they have no evidence that Silver or Judy Rapfogel knew about the scam, although the investigation is continuing.
Cohen had been the ambulance service’s CEO for nearly five years and was paid $ 183,667 in 2011 — the most recent year for which tax records were available.
Shipper said Cohen’s duties at Hatzalah would be taken over by the ambulance service’s executive board and that a search for a new chief executive officer would begin shortly.
News of Cohen’s resignation was first reported by The Jewish Daily Forward.
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