Another Holocaust Claims Conference Schemer Convicted

Another participant in the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany scandal has admitted her role in that $57 million scheme to approve nearly 5,000 fraudulent applications, resulting in pay-outs to applicants who did not qualify for the programs, the NY Daily News reports.

The latest conspirator, Valentina Romashova, 65, from Brooklyn, pleaded guilty on Wednesday. She faces at least five years in prison for her role in the scheme.

Romashova and several others worked in collaboration with employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which administers the funds, by preparing fraudulent applications for nonexistent victims of the very real Nazi persecution of the Jews. The recipients then paid back part of their ill gains to the schemers.

Romashova will return the $150,000 she was paid fraudulently.

The scam was discovered in 2010 and the FBI has so far charged 31 people.

A former fund employee, Yevgeniya Abramovich, 69, was sentenced to one year in prison on Wednesday.

The Ukraine born Abramovich will pay $201,000 in restitution to the fund. She herself netted $45,000 from a fraudulent application.

Romashova's sentencing will take place early next year.