Attorney General James Recovers More Than $1.6 Million from Former Leaders of Historic Queens Cemetery for Financial Mismanagement

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that she has secured more than $1.6 million from former leaders of Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery, including Daniel Austin, Sr. and Anthony Mordente, who allegedly misused and took millions of dollars in charitable funds from the cemetery in order to enrich themselves. The funds will be returned to the historic nonprofit cemetery, now under new management, to support restoration and upkeep. Austin, Sr., who ran the cemetery for decades as President, Chief Executive, and Chairman, will return a nearly $1 million payout he wrongfully received. Mordente, who served in multiple cemetery leadership roles, including Director, Board Secretary, Treasurer, President, and Legal Counsel, will also return $585,000 he was improperly paid. A total of $1.672 million will be returned to the cemetery, including $187,100 that Attorney General James secured in previous settlements with other former Directors of the cemetery. 

“No one deserves to have their final resting place desecrated by mismanagement and greed,” said Attorney General James. “Daniel Austin, Sr. and Anthony Mordente used All Faiths Cemetery as their personal piggy bank, allowing the grounds to fall into disrepair while they lined their own pockets. This was not only unlawful, but also completely disrespectful to the families and loved ones of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers buried at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery. My office will always fight to protect New York’s historic sites.”

Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery is a historic nonprofit cemetery in Middle Village, Queens that has served as the final resting place for more than 540,000 New Yorkers for nearly 150 years. After Austin, Sr. became president in 1990, conditions at the cemetery began to deteriorate. By the time Austin, Sr. stepped down as president in 2014, several sections of the cemetery had fallen into disrepair. Visitors reported toppled and sunken gravestones, cracked memorials, crumbling stairs, and roads full of potholes. Rather than invest charitable funds in maintaining the cemetery, Austin, Sr. and Mordente took money for themselves and allowed the cemetery to fall into disrepair. All funds secured in today’s settlements will go directly to the cemetery to support the continued restoration and preservation of its historic grounds. 

In September 2019, Attorney General James filed a lawsuit against seven long-serving Directors and Board members of Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery after an Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation revealed that they had engaged in extensive misuse of the organization’s charitable funds and unlawful self-dealing. The OAG found that Austin, Sr., with the assistance of Mordente, extracted $900,000 from the cemetery’s funds as an unlawful, so-called retirement benefit for himself while continuing to serve in a “consultant” role, for which he continued to receive a salary and full employee benefits. The $900,000 retirement benefit was taken in addition to his previously agreed upon pension, and was paid out in one lump sum, instead of in standard monthly allotments. Austin, Sr.’s fellow former Directors did not dispute or otherwise oppose this self-dealing.

The OAG also found that following Austin, Sr.’s purported retirement, the cemetery’s Board of Directors elected his son, Daniel Austin, Jr., to serve as President, a role for which no other candidates were considered. During this time, Austin, Jr. diverted more than $60,000 from the cemetery’s payroll in the form of self-authorized bonuses. After learning this, Mordente and the Board permitted Austin, Jr. to remain in his paid roles as President and Director for many months, ultimately allowing him to resign with a full pension. Austin, Sr. then repaid the diverted funds on his son’s behalf, without any interest added or admission of wrongdoing from the younger Austin.

The OAG’s investigation also revealed frequent misuse of cemetery assets to directly benefit Board members and their families. Mordente, while serving as a Director, was paid to provide “outside” legal counsel to the cemetery. Between 1990 and 2020, Mordente was paid a retainer fee with zero oversight from the Board or documentation to justify the amounts paid. Additionally, multiple Board members, including Austin, Sr. and Mordente, used cemetery funds to issue personal mortgage loans to relatives without proper review of those insider transactions. Attorney General James alleges that this mismanagement and overspending of funds resulted in millions of dollars in unnecessary operating costs and financial losses for the cemetery. 

As part of today’s agreement, Austin, Sr. must return $900,000 to replenish the funds taken as a lump sum retirement benefit to the cemetery. Mordente will pay $585,000 to restore cemetery funds improperly used to pay his multiple salaries. Austin, Sr., Austin, Jr., and Mordente are also permanently barred from serving in a financial management role in any New York nonprofits or charitable organizations. 

Attorney General James previously secured settlements with four additional Directors named in the 2019 lawsuit for participating in or permitting improper and wasteful financial transactions, ultimately harming the cemetery. These Directors admitted to violating their duties as leaders of the cemetery by failing to provide adequate oversight of the cemetery’s finances and approving transactions with insiders without consideration of conflicts of interest. As part of these prior agreements, the Board members agreed to return the full amounts they were paid as Directors during the period in question, ranging from $38,500 to $50,000, for a total of $187,100.

This matter was handled by Senior Counsel Sandra Pullman, Assistant Attorney General Mihea Kim, Research Analyst Joseph Flores, and former Legal Extern Will Gomberg, with former Assistant Attorneys General Kate Suvari and Daniel Roque, under the supervision of Charities Enforcement Section Chief Emily Stern and Charities Bureau Chief James Sheehan.The Charities Bureau is a part of the Division for Social Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.