Wafa Abboud – the head of a Long Island not-for-profit organization swiped nearly $1 million in “consulting fees” to pay for her lavish lifestyle, which included cosmetic surgery, family vacations, spa treatments and her $1.3 million home, federal authorities in Brooklyn 
charged.
Wafa Abboud allegedly ripped off $900,000 from Human First Inc., a social-services provider for those with autism and other developmental disabilities, between January 2011 and May 2016, according to a criminal complaint.
She served as executive director of the nonprofit from 2010 through May 2016, when she was fired. The organization paid at least $16,000 a month — and sometimes more — to consulting firm MPB Management, a company run by one of Abboud’s cohorts, Marcelle Bailey, court papers say.
A federal investigation found that after the money was transferred to MPB Management, Abboud, 48, used the firm’s bank account to pay off at least $114,000 in personal credit-card debt she had racked up on vacations, jewelry and dining out, officials charged.
She also allegedly wired about $67,000 from MPB Management accounts to herself — and drew checks from it, including $8,000 for a “cosmetic-surgery bill,” according to the court complaint.
About $340,000 in ill-gotten gains were used as a down payment on Abboud’s home in Merrick, LI.
She is also accused of swiping more than $3,5000 to pay for property taxes.
Abboud and a co-defendant, Rami Misbah Taha, crafted a similar money-laundering scheme when it came to funding renovations for the home, according to the complaint.
Human First paid out more than $400,000 to a company controlled by Taha for purported “repairs” to its facilities — but the money was then funneled to a construction business that was doing upgrades on Abboud’s abode, the court documents say.
Prosecutors say Abboud also wired more than $23,000 to people in Morocco and Egypt between 2012 and 2014.
Abboud, Taha and Bailey were indicted last week on charges of embezzlement, conspiracy, money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud for allegedly making false statements in order to secure a $1 million mortgage for the Merrick house.
