TRENTON – The founder of a special needs school in Lakewood was sentenced to 60 days and probation after a jury previously found him guilty of using school funds in a money laundering scheme, announced Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.
Rabbi Osher Eisemann, 62, is the founder and director of the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI). He was found guilty by a Middlesex County jury back in February and was sentenced today to 60 days in jail as a condition of a term of two years of probation.
Eisemann must pay an anti-money laundering profiteering penalty of $250,000. The date of Eisemann’s jail term will be determined on July 1.
On February 27, Eisemann was found guilty of second-degree charges of money laundering and misconduct by a corporate official. Although the state recommended that he be sentenced to 12 years, six years for each charge, the judge imposed a sentence of probation, finding Eisemann had overcome the presumption of imprisonment attached to his second-degree convictions.
The Attorney General’s Office is currently reviewing the judge’s decision and considering an appeal.
Eisemann was acquitted at trial of additional charges, including a charge of first-degree corruption of public resources, but was denied a request for a new trial.
The school’s fundraising foundation, Services for Hidden Intelligence, LLC, was acquitted of all charges.
An investigation into the school began with a referral from the New Jersey Department of Education regarding SCHI’s financial practices.
According to court testimony, Eisemann allegedly misappropriated $200,000 in school funds that he used in a scheme designed to make it appear that he used personal funds to repay debts he owed to SCHI. It is also alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Eisemann used the fundraising foundation to misappropriate $779,000 in public tuition monies, using them for various personal purposes unrelated to SCHI.
