As dean of the Institute of Asian Studies at St. Johns University in Queens, Cecelia Chang traveled the world soliciting donations, luring potential contributors with sumptuous meals, entertainment and gifts, all of it paid for by the college. Her expenses sometimes reached $50,000 a month.
On January. 6, after 30 years of working at the college, Ms. Chang was suspended. In June, she lost her job. On September 15, Ms. Chang, 57, was arrested at her 15-room colonial in Jamaica Estates and accused of embezzling about $1 million from the university, money that prosecutors said she used to pay for lingerie, trips to casinos and her son's tuition bills.
As part of her scheme, prosecutors said, Ms. Chang siphoned a $250,000 donation from a Saudi prince's foundation into a nonprofit organization she had created ostensibly for the university but that, in fact, was a personal piggy bank. (Source, Fernanda Santos, New York Times, Sep 15, 2010).