Jury convicts former Boston Center for Adult Education executive for embezzling and forging documents

BOSTON, October 20, 2023 – A Suffolk County jury today found the former Executive Director of the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) guilty on embezzlement and forgery charges, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

SUSAN BROWN, 70, of Marblehead, was convicted of one count of larceny over $1,200, one count of forgery, one count of forgery of a document, and one count of falsifying entry in corporate books. Brown will be sentenced on November 9 in Suffolk Superior Court.

The evidence presented by Assistant District Attorney Jodi Greenburg of Hayden’s Special Prosecutions Unit showed that Brown, who served as the nonprofit’s executive director from 2009 until September 2018, filed forged tax forms and corporate documents with the IRS that resulted in the BCAE losing its tax-exempt status. Brown also paid her co-defendant Karen Kalifan, 66, also of Marblehead, about $80,000 a year for seven years for marketing that Kalifan did not perform, resulting in a loss to BCAE of $565,000.

Kalifan was charged with receiving stolen property and found not guilty.

Mark Mitchell, the BCAE’s former comptroller, also embezzled approximately $1.3 million from the center.  He pled guilty on September 28, and was sentenced to 18 months in the House of Correction.

As a result of its losses through the embezzlement schemes, the BCAE stopped offering classes and special programing for the first time since being founded in 1933. 

“It is extremely heartbreaking that an organization that has been around for so many years can no longer provide the important programs that defined it from the start. These individuals engineered illicit profits while the community suffered and had educational options ripped away from them. I applaud the Special Prosecutions Unit for their dedication to holding these defendants responsible for the harm they caused BCAE and the people it served,” Hayden said.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications