Officials in Hastings District for At-Risk Students Arraigned on Public Corruption Charges

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January 22, 2025

By Rick Pezzullo—

Two former officials at a Hastings-on-Hudson school district that serves at-risk students were arraigned Wednesday on an indictment charging them with multiple public corruption offenses.

Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace and New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that Oliver Levy, the former superintendent in the Greenburgh-Graham Union Free School District, and Surendra Kumer, a former security system specialist, were arraigned before Westchester County Court Judge Anne Bianchi on the charges of Second-Degree and Third-Degree Grand Larceny as Crimes of Public Corruption, Second-Degree and Third-Degree Grand Larceny, and Corrupting the Government in the Second and Third Degrees.

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Both Levy, 55, of Stony Point, and Kumar, 48, of Yonkers, pled not guilty to the charges.

“Any theft of public funds represents a fundamental breach of public trust. That breach is amplified when the allegations concern an institution serving our most vulnerable,” Cacace said. “The funds in this case that were allegedly diverted to the defendants could have been used for student achievement. My office will work diligently to ensure that the students and parents at Greenburgh-Graham are made whole.”

“School administrators allegedly stealing from students they are supposed to serve is reprehensible,” DiNapoli said.

As alleged in the felony complaint, Levy, who began as a teaching assistant in 2008 and was promoted to superintendent in 2018, aided, abetted, and acted in concert with Kumar, then a security system specialist, to purchase 168 gift cards between July 2018 and June 2022.

Instead of spending the full sum of these funds on school-related expenses, Levy and Kumar are accused of diverting over $50,000 from the gift cards to personal expenses, such as jewelry, luxury handbags, private school fees for relatives, and veterinary services.

Levy and Kumar were arrested in May 2024 by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. They have been released on their own recognizance. None of the charges are bail eligible.

The top charge, Second-Degree Grand Larceny as a Crime of Public Corruption, carries a maximum potential sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

The Greenbugh-Graham Union Free School District serves at-risk students from kindergarten to 12^th grade.

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