FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 27, 2023
Veteran Court Employee Indicted for Stealing over $69,000
Defendant Worked as Supervising Cashier in the Kings County Clerk’s Office
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York State Unified Court System Inspector General Sherrill Spatz, today announced that a Staten Island woman has been arraigned on an indictment in which she is charged with grand larceny, tampering with public records, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, and official misconduct for allegedly stealing more than $69,000 by voiding cash transactions involving court filings and pocketing the money.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant’s alleged theft is a betrayal of the trust of her employer and the public. We will now seek to recover the funds allegedly stolen from the court and hold this defendant accountable.”
Inspector General Spatz said, “We appreciate the hard work of the Office of Court Administration auditors and the support and efforts of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to further investigate and prosecute this case.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Lori Argiro-DiPietro, 55, of Staten Island, New York. She was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a 47-count indictment in which she is charged with second-degree grand larceny, first-degree tampering with public records, first-degree falsifying business records, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, and official misconduct. She was released without bail and ordered to return to court on April 26, 2023.
It is alleged that between January 1, 2020 and August 9, 2022, the defendant allegedly voided at least 436 cash transactions totaling $69,515.50 according to the investigation.
It is further alleged that the defendant stole the $69,515.50 by voiding cash transactions involving persons who paid to file or obtain documents from the Court, such as divorce or business certificate filings. Although the defendant filed the documents or provided copies to the persons seeking them, she allegedly voided the transactions in the records of the New York State Unified Court System and kept the funds.
Argiro-DiPietro worked for the Unified Court System for 37 years before she was terminated on August 10, 2022. The investigation began following a routine audit by the NYS Unified Court System’s Internal Audit Services office of the financial records and internal controls of the Kings County Clerk’s Office, specifically relating to cash receipts and disbursements of KCCO’s Cashier’s Office.
The case was referred to the District Attorney’s office by the Unified Court System’s Inspector General’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Tammy Chung of the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Adam Libove, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Assistant District Attorney Laura Neubauer, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division and Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.