H EADLINES
Fraud Continued from Page 1
as personal piggy banks for
those entrusted with managing
their funds,” Acting U.S.

Attorney Jennifer Arbittier
Williams said in a statement.

Lutts, who was indicted
by a grand jury on April 15,
faces up to 480 years in jail,
up to $6 million in fi nes, up
to three years of supervised
release and a $2,400 special
assessment, according to the
U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce. Her real
and personal property also is
subject to forfeiture.

As of May 24, she was in
custody awaiting a deten-
tion hearing, said Jennifer
Crandall, a spokesperson for
the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce. A
public defender was appointed
to represent Lutts.

“The usual reward of
nonprofi t work is personal
fulfillment, not
finan- cial enrichment,” Michael
J. Driscoll, Special Agent
in Charge of the FBI’s
Philadelphia Division, said in
a statement. “Lutts, however,
allegedly treated these organi-
zations like her very own ATM,
shortchanging their eff orts and
the community in the process.

Th e FBI will pursue and hold
accountable anyone foolish
enough to engage in this kind
of fraud.”
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia Chief Operating
Offi cer Steven Rosenberg said
“while we learned an unfortu-
nate lesson, it’s clearly a case
of good triumphing over evil.”
“We not only got the
majority of the money back
[through insurance], we chased
the person down,” Rosenberg
said. “Th e paper is stable now,
which is a win considering the
print-journalism market. We
still know the Jewish Exponent
is the prominent voice of
the Jewish community in
Philadelphia.” Rosenberg said Lutts, who
was an Exponent employee for
18 years, was fi red for poor
performance before the fraud
was discovered. According
to Rosenberg, Mike Costello,
Lutts’ replacement, found a
fabricated bank statement in
Lutts’ desk drawer on his fi rst
day on the job.

Th e Exponent and Jewish
Federation consulted first
with Frank Riehl, the latter’s
director of security, and
then the Philadelphia Police
Department. “As we recognized this was
beyond the police department’s
scope, we immediately called
in the FBI,” Rosenberg said,
adding that outside counsel
and other assistance was
brought in, while the insurance
carrier was notifi ed.

According to the 12-page
indictment, starting in 2016
Lutts used both her personal
and corporate American
Express cards for a wide
variety of personal expenses,
including rideshare services;
airline tickets; entertainment,
travel and lodging; health care
and exercise services; utilities;
education and career services;
legal services; funeral and
burial services; clothing; food
and alcohol; and other items
from retail stores, grocery
stores, convenience stores,
websites, restaurants and
The fi rst page of the indictment against former Jewish Exponent Director
of Business Operations Cheryl Lutts
delivery services.

Lutts also allegedly used
her personal credit cards and
her corporate credit and debit
cards to transfer company using PayPal and CashApp, conceal the fraud.

money to various individuals, among other methods.

“For example, she provided
Lutts prepared
and the Jewish Exponent’s manage-
submitted fi nancial reports to ment with fi nancial statements
a variety of people including that did not include a balance
both an outside audit and tax sheet or included a balance
sheet that was later determined
preparation fi rm.

“It was a very sophisti- not to match the account
cated operation,” Rosenberg balances and/or the transaction
ELDER LAW
said. “Nobody could have seen refl ected ... She also provided
AND this. Her level of deceit was the Jewish Exponent’s manage-
ESTATE PLANNING remarkable.”
ment with bank reconciliation
“We used every resource statements that did not refl ect
Wills Trusts
we had to determine the depth the true balances.”
Th e Exponent and Jewish
of the fraud,” he continued,
Powers of Attorney
adding “we will not tolerate this Federation have since installed
Living Wills
type of behavior ever, regardless new programs and procedures,
Probate Estates
of the amount stolen from us.” while eliminating company
Protect assets from
In all, the payments from credit cards, Rosenberg said.

nursing home
“Our financial control
the Exponent’s checking
document is very, very rigid,”
account to
her personal
Amex LARRY SCOTT AUERBACH, ESQ.

cards were $982,781. She he said. “Money does not get
CERTIFIED ELDER LAW ATTORNEY
CPA-PFS, J.D., LL.M.,MBA
also allegedly signed checks moved without at least three
1000 Easton Road
for $205,977 to Amex drawn people’s approval.” ●
Abington, PA 19001
on the Exponent’s checking
account to pay the Exponent’s agotlieb@jewishexponent.com;
For consultation call
215-517-5566 or
credit cards.

215-832-0797 |
1-877-987-8788 Toll Free
Th e indictment said that gkahn@jewishexponent.com;
Website: www.Lsauerbach.com
Lutts took several actions to 215-832-0747
LEGAL DIRECTORY
www.jewishexponent.com 14
MAY 27, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



F TAY-SACHS
R F R E E E E
H eadlines
Sister Continued from Page 1
and her uncle, Harold.

But the next line down
surprised her. To Marci
Goldfinger’s knowledge, her
father had only had two siblings,
his older brother Harold and his
younger sister, Ruth (Irving and
Ruth were not included in the
1930 census as it predated their
births). Why was there a line for
an older sister named “Norma
Goldfinger?” Marci Goldfinger called up
her father, and asked him that
question. He was silent for a
while. “That must be the name of
my sister,” he finally answered.

Irving Goldfinger, 88, was
a child when he first learned
about the existence of an older
sister, one who died before he
was born. It was something
he heard by accident, secretive
grown-up talk that a child hears
in passing. When his parents
died in 1990, Irving Goldfinger
had never asked them about
what he was sure he’d heard
once, decades before.

And even after Marci
Goldfinger turned up the name
“Norma” in 2012 — the first
time Irving Goldfinger put a
name to an idea — he didn’t
know what to do with the
information. It was only after
watching a “Sunday Morning”
segment in the fall of 2020
about the desecration of a Black
cemetery that it clicked for him:
He needed to find Norma.

He wasn’t sure how he was
going to do it. The pandemic
was entering its most deadly
stage, keeping him isolated at
home in Richboro, and he did
not use the internet. But he felt
more than a compulsion to try.

He felt a responsibility.

“Life is important,” Irving
Goldfinger said. “To some
people in the world today,
life is not important. Life is
important. She existed. And I
want to honor her.”
Irving Goldfinger was born
in 1932. Sadie Goldfinger, a
born Philadelphian, was at
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM home with her children, and
Abraham Goldfinger, born
in Poland, was a cutter for J.

Maimon & Sons, a clothing
company, eventually rising to
the level of foreman.

Irving Goldfinger graduated
from Central High School before
earning an accounting degree
from Temple University. In
1956, just a few years out from
Temple, Goldfinger married
Estelle Miller, and the two were
married until her death on Dec.

1, 2018, their 62nd anniver-
sary. They had two daughters
together, Marci Goldfinger,
of Chalfont, who works for
Johnson & Johnson, and Susan
Goldfinger Bilker, of Jamison, a
licensed clinical social worker.

For 50 years, Irving Goldfinger
earned a living as a CPA, special-
izing in fraud analysis.

“I learned early: Where there’s
smoke, there’s fire,” he said. “You
could smell it.” He was a partner
at Laventhol & Horwath for 23
years, which came to a crashing
end in 1990 when the company
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
according to the Chicago
Tribune archives.

That same year, both of his
parents died and they took
any information about Irving
Goldfinger’s sister with them
to the family plot in Roosevelt
Memorial Park.

“It was boom, boom, boom,”
Susan Goldfinger Bilker said. “It
was rough for him.” In the fall of
2020, when Goldfinger informed
his daughters of his intentions to
find his older sister, they could
see how freighted with meaning
the search would become.

“This has been a quest for
him,” Marci Goldfinger said,
“and it would be a relief that we
found her.”
In October, with help from
his daughters, Irving Goldfinger
decided that it was finally time
to find some facts, and more
specifically, to find Norma.

“She was alive, she was
a person,” he said, his voice
cracking. “And she is not being
recognized.” The trio began to file
records requests, searching
for traces of Norma in the
archives of Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania. Having found
Norma’s date of death — Aug.

13, 1931 — they were able to
file with the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania for her death
certificate. In October, they
received a copy.

Norma Goldfinger was born
on Sept. 21, 1929, and died at
the age of 23 months, with the
cause listed as “diabetes acidosis
with coma.” Her father’s name
is misstated as “Albert” — that
was his nickname — and his
place of birth is incorrectly
listed as Russia, rather than
to place a stone on Norma’s grave
can seem dim. But her father
always had a mind for details,
and he remains a sharp thinker.

“It would be a wonderful thing, to
be able to honor her and to be able
to say yizkor and do all the things
that you should do for family.”
Irving Goldfinger is distraught
that his search is taking so long,
but he is persisting with the help
of his daughters. As he said,
where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

And he believes there’s an awful
lot of smoke. l
& & TAY-SACHS
CANAVAN CANAVAN
SCREENING SCREENING
CALL (215) 887-0877
FOR DETAILS
e-mail: ntsad@aol.com;
visit: www.tay-sachs.org
■ Screening for other
Jewish Genetic Diseases
also available.

This message is sponsored by a friend of
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Nat’l Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases
Association of Delaware Valley
“Life is important. To some people in the world today, life is not
important. Life is important. She existed. And I want to honor her.”
IRVING GOLDFINGER
Poland. The burial date: Aug.

14. The cemetery: Har Jehuda.

They called Har Jehuda, who
told the trio that there was no
record of a Norma Goldfinger.

Irving Goldfinger was told that in
1931, there was such an influx of
bodies due to a wave of influenza
that the cemetery was “overrun.”
They decided to widen their pool,
calling the undertaker company
listed on the death certificate,
Mount Jacob Cemetery, Mount
Sharon Cemetery and King David
Memorial Park, but they had no
luck getting any closer to Norma.

G old f i nger
a sked
Rabbi Charles Briskin of
Congregation Shir Ami to
make some calls on his behalf;
Briskin obliged, but could turn
up no new information.

Hoping for something more,
the family paid for the full file
on Norma from the Medical
Examiner’s Office in Philadelphia.

The money was returned with a
letter, letting them know that
records from that time period had
been lost in a flood.

“Time is ticking,” Susan
Goldfinger Bikler acknowledged,
and the likelihood of being able
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