Expenses fraud detailed in Brooks trial

Newsday is reporting that the chief financial officer for David Brooks' body-armor company said Monday, March 8, that while Brooks ran the company with an iron fist, including making all financial decisions, he worked with her on a number of schemes to avoid revealing that the company illegally had paid for his personal expenses, including a $101,000 diamond-encrusted belt buckle in the shape of an American flag.

In a story written by Robert Kessler, the CFO, Dawn Schlegel, also testified in federal court in Central Islip that Brooks was in total charge of Tactical Armor Products, ostensibly an independent Tennessee company that was run by Brooks former wife, Terry Brooks. Federal prosecutors have said that TAP was actually a front David Brooks used to funnel as much as $16 million from his company, DHB Industries , which at the time was based in Westbury, to illegally support his stable of several hundred harness-racing horses.

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