Jersey City's Sudhan Thomas Charged With Embezzlement

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The former Jersey City Board of Education President was charged with embezzling funds from the employment training program he directed, authorities announced.

Sudhan Thomas, 44, was charged with embezzling funds from an organization receiving federal funds, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Thomas served as acting executive director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Program from January 2019 until he resigned that July. The program is a nonprofit organization assisted residents to prepare for and enter the work force, Carpenito said. It received grants from the U.S. departments of labor and housing and urban development.

Thomas embezzled more than $45,000 from the program, Carpenito said. Thomas had control of the program's bank accounts. He caused checks that were made out to others to be drawn from the accounts and received by him, Carpenito said.

Thomas also embezzled funds by issuing checks made out to cash that Thomas either cashed himself or used to obtain bank checks that Thomas made payable to Next Glocal, which Thomas controlled. The funds were deposited into a Next Glocal bank account, which Thomas used to pay for personal expenses, like airfare and hotel expenses for a trip to Hawaii and his rent, along with deposits into a family trust account, Carpenito said.

Thomas faces a potential 10-year prison sentence and a maximum $250,000 fine if found guilty of the charge filed against him.

Thomas is scheduled to appear in Newark federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre Wednesday.

It is the second time criminal charges have been filed against Thomas in recent weeks. He was charged with bribery in December as part of a major investigation of political corruption in Hudson and Morris counties when he was president of the Board of Education. His term ended Dec. 31.

In return for $35,000, Thomas allegedly agreed to arrange for the board to hire a cooperating witness to be hired as a special counsel, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal previously said.

Related: Jersey City School Board Pres., 4 More Charged With Taking Bribes

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com