A former St. John’s University dean pressured vulnerable foreign students into becoming her private servants, threatening to yank their scholarships if they refused, prosecutors said today.
Cecilia Chang — on trial in Brooklyn federal court on forced-labor, tax fraud and other charges — put these young people to work in her family’s home, “scrubbing their bathrooms, taking out their garbage, shoveling the snow” and washing her underwear, Assistant US Attorney Lan Nguyen told a jury in opening statements.
At the same time, Chang misused her “powerful authority” to engage in a far-reaching scheme to defraud the university out of “hundreds of thousands of dollars” by submitting phony invoices, disguising expenditures as professional outlays, and altering bank statements — partly to underwrite her gambling debts — the prosecutor said.
”She abused it for her own personal gain, to fund a life of excess,” Nguyen said.
Chang’s defense attorney told the jurors he believes they will clear her of wrongdoing.
“Cecilia Chang spent 30 years of her life in service to St. John’s University,” said Stephen Mahler.
”She was their goodwill ambassador. She was their secretary of state,” the attorney said.
mmaddux@nypost.com