A top doctor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center who embezzled more than $1.4 million to pay for a luxe doggy day care center for his pets and other personal expenses will spend the next one to three years in the pound.
Michael Lucchesi, 67, the former head of emergency medicine at Downstate, used the Brooklyn hospital and med school’s business credit card to give a healthy boost to his already six-figure salary, using taxpayer dollars to live large and make sure his pups were pampered.
His theft spanned more than six years, starting in December 2016 and continuing until an audit by the state Offices of the Inspector General unmasked him as a crook.
Lucchesi used $176,000 of the money to cater to five dogs that belonged to him and his girlfriend, including three Labrador retrievers and a Rottweiler, law enforcement sources said last year. About $120,000 went to the Greenleaf Pet Resort & Hotel in Millstone Township, N.J., according to prosecutors.
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
A view of SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn on Sunday March 29, 2020. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
He also used the hospital credit card to pay $348,000 in personal travel expenses, $109,000 for membership and personal training at New York Sports Club, $52,000 in catering expenses, $46,000 in tuition payments for his children, $115,000 in cash advances, and several online orders for flowers, liquor, electronics and other purchases.
Lucchesi, who was indicted in July 2024, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in June. He was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday.
“This defendant was entrusted with a leadership role at a critical Brooklyn medical institution and violated that trust by stealing nearly $1.5 million,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Wednesday. “SUNY Downstate does vital, lifesaving work, and these stolen funds could have been used to support patient care and medical services. Instead, they were diverted for personal expenses over a period of years.”
Lucchesi served at times as the acting head of Downstate Hospital and the medical school and the chief medical officer, according to prosecutors. State payroll data show he made more than $260,000 in base salary in 2023, and from 2016 to 2019 his overall pay topped more than $500,000.
“Dr. Lucchesi was beloved by the Brooklyn community that he served for over 35 years,” his lawyer Earl Ward told the Daily News. “His legacy will be his dedication and commitment to his patients and the many lives he saved.”
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