A female forger from the former Soviet Union was slapped with nearly two years in prison today for creating phony identity papers that helped a fraud ring scam more than $57 million in Holocaust reparations from the German government.
A weeping Dora Grande bowed her head in shame and let out a whimper after Manhattan federal Judge Thomas Griesa said she deserved a “meaningful penalty” for forging about 300 documents at $100 a pop while working as a translator and notary public in Brooklyn.
In addition to the 21 months prison time — just three months shy of the maximum under her plea deal — Griesa ordered Grande to forfeit the $30,000 she pocketed through the scam, and also pay $75,000 in restitution.
Chad Rachman/New York Post
Dora Grande
Defense lawyer Glenn Morak argued that Grande, 65, had no idea that her fake birth certificates would be used in a massive scheme to rip off the Manhattan-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
But prosecutor Christopher Frey said Grande “basically turned a blind eye” to her clients’ plans, noting that “the fraud permeated the Brighton Beach community” where she lives.
Grande sobbed as she begged for mercy, saying she was “so sorry and ashamed” of what she did that she told her family and friends not to show up in court to support her.
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