A special-ed therapist was caught referring public-school students to her own for-profit company and fired from her $75,000-a-year Department of Education job — but walked away with nearly $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars paid to businesses she and her husband owned.
Swapna Bollera, 43, who worked as an occupational therapist at PS 58 and IS 75 on Staten Island, recommended special-ed services by herself and several therapists employed at her private business, Cribs to Crayons Inc.
City rules forbid employees to have a financial interest in any company doing business with the agency where they work.
Bollera also had an interest in another company that provided special-ed services to pre-K kids, Bollera Consulting, which she co-owned with her husband, she later admitted.
The DOE has paid $995,488 to Bollera Consulting since 2006, and $453,508 to Cribs to Crayons, officials said. Bollera was found in violation of city conflict-of-interest rules, but not fined.
Bollera was fired in July after schools investigator Richard Condon caught her in several “lies,” a report says.
She told investigators that Cribs to Crayons had no other employees, which it did. She also first identified Poonacha as her brother-in-law, and claimed she was not involved in his business.
The DOE has stopped using both companies, it said Friday.