Marc Haynes Allegedly Used the Stolen Funds Meant for the School to Pay for Luxury Travel, Shopping, and Court-Ordered Restitution
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, today announced the indictment of MARC HAYNES, 34, the former co-treasurer of the Parent Teacher Association (“PTA”) for East Side Elementary School, PS 267, for stealing approximately $185,000 from the PTA through unauthorized credit card payments. The defendant is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. [1]
“Marc Haynes is accused of using his own child’s elementary school PTA to bankroll luxury vacations, shopping sprees and even to pay court-ordered restitution from a prior conviction for stealing from his former employer,” said District Attorney Bragg. “I thank the diligent PTA members who uncovered these thefts and reported them to my office. As we see far too often, no organization, even one dedicated to the children of our city, is immune to insider theft and fraud. If you believe your organization or company has been a victim of this type of scheme, call my office’s dedicated Financial Frauds hotline at 212-335-8900.”
According to court documents and statement made on the record in court, HAYNES served as the co-treasurer for East Side Elementary School’s PTA, located at East 63rd Street on the Upper East Side, for the 2020-2021 school year. In this role, he had access to the PTA’s two checking accounts. From October 26, 2020 to July 6, 2021, he made 17 unauthorized payments to his personal J.P Morgan Chase credit card using one of the PTA’s accounts. The payments ranged in amounts from $2,389 to $32,000 and totaled $185,717. HAYNES used the stolen funds to pay credit card bills for charges at luxury hotels in St. Lucia and Bermuda and purchases at Fendi, Restoration Hardware, and Pottery Barn.
In July 2016, HAYNES was convicted of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree in a separate case prosecuted by the Manhattan D.A.s office for stealing from his former employer, a publishing company, and sentenced to five years of probation and $51,247 in restitution. He also used the stolen PTA funds to pay two court-ordered restitution payments for that case, which he charged to his credit card, totaling $23,838.
In October 2021, one of the PTA’s new co-treasurers noticed a suspicious $9,081 transaction in one of the accounts for which there was no supporting documentation. When initially confronted about the payment, HAYNES, who was currently serving as co-president of the PTA, claimed the transaction was to reimburse another PTA member’s credit card for an urgent furniture purchase. After being unable to verify that, the co-treasurers emailed HAYNES and several PTA members requesting supporting documentation. Instead of providing documentation, Haynes replied to the email resigning from his position as co-president of the PTA. One of the co-treasurers discovered additional unexplained credit card payments and the PTA subsequently reported the thefts to several law enforcement agencies, including the Manhattan D.A.’s office.
Assistant D.A. Jessica Olive is handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Ryan Gee (Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau), Hope Korenstein (Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau), and Kofi Sansculotte (Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau) and Executive Assistant D.A. Susan Hoffinger (Chief of the Investigation Division). Financial Frauds paralegal Kristen Grimes, Senior Rackets Investigator Anthony Santoro and Rackets Investigator Genesis De Luna assisted with the investigation.
District Attorney Bragg thanked the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District.
Defendant Information:
MARC HAYNES
New York, NY
Charge:
- Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
[1] The charge contained in the indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.