N.Y. Insurer Pleads Guilty to Charity Theft Scheme

An insurance-company owner charged with aiding a Jewish community leader in the theft of $7-million from a New York social-service group has pleaded guilty, says The New York Times.

Joseph Ross, 58, who was arrested in November, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday to grand larceny, money laundering, and other offenses, according to the state attorney general’s office.

In the criminal complaint, Mr. Ross is accused of using his company, Century Coverage of Valley Stream, to send inflated invoices to the Metropolitan New York Council on Jewish Poverty. He and William E. Rapfogel, the charity’s executive director, then split the excess. The scheme lasted for two decades.

The minutes of the proceedings in State Supreme Court and the terms of Mr. Ross’s plea were sealed, and Mr. Ross’s lawyer declined to comment.