Man gets max for stealing $8.4M from private school, bilking cash for beach houses, lavish shopping sprees and 1965 Mustang, jewelry, more

For more than a decade, David Ostrove skimmed roughly $8.4 million from a private school in New York where he worked as a chief executive, using the ill-gotten gains to prop up his lavish lifestyle which included buying beach houses — and then renting them out for a tidy profit — while also going on shopping sprees for luxury items like a classic 1965 Mustang, jewelry and more.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office issued a statement following Ostrove's sentence of 8 1/2 to 25 years in prison for the theft, noting that Ostrove will be required to pay back every cent he stole. A jury convicted the 52-year-old last month on charges of grand larceny and money laundering.

Ostrove, who worked as the chief financial and technology officer for the private K-12 Schechter School on Long Island, poured millions from school accounts into his own personal accounts from March 2014 to April 2022, prosecutors told jurors during the trial.

With that money, he bought cars including a 1965 Mustang, a Lincoln Aviator and a Mercedes-Benz. He also bought five beach houses on New York's Fire Island and purchased each through a shell corporation in order to hide his identity. Ostrove then spent $1.4 million in renovations for the homes and pocketed over $600,000 in income after he rented those beach houses out.

The cars and houses have all been seized.

The stolen funds also went toward paying his daughter's college tuition, home equity loans and expensive collectible political memorabilia and coins. Evidence showed Ostrove also turned those for a profit. All told, he made at least $1 million in cash withdrawals and went on shopping sprees where he would buy high-end clothing and jewelry or take "limousine trips," the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.

In addition to paying back the $8.4 million he stole in full, Ostrove was ordered to pay an additional $500,000 for each shell corporation he operated.

"This sentence sends a clear message that we take white collar crime extremely seriously here in Suffolk County," said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. "We are satisfied that with both the verdict and sentence that justice has been attained for all of the students, staff, and the community at the Schechter School."

Fox Business reported Thursday that attorney Steven Bertolino, who represented Brian Laundrie's parents in the Gabby Petito murder case, once threw Ostrove out of his office.

"Back when he was flushed with other people's money, he was a pompous a–," Bertolino told the outlet.