The renowned golf instructor who runs Bethpage golf course’s pro shop is accusing her former business partner of embezzling more than $300,000 — then trying to frame others for his crimes, including a teenager with autism and a dead employee.
Kelley Brooke, who was named 2018’s LPGA Professional of the Year, claimed in the lawsuit that the firm’s former vice president, Paul O’Donoghue, pocketed loads of cash during his six years managing the pro shop at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on Long Island.
The schemes were innumerable, the lawsuit said, and involved O’Donoghue employing nefarious measures to get his hands on extra dough — such as stealing money from fictitious golf cart rental refunds at the Farmingdale complex.
“On more than two thousand occasions over six years, O’Donoghue pocketed Pro Shop cash receipts before they were to be deposited into Bethpage Golf’s bank account,” said the suit filed Wednesday in Nassau County Supreme Court.
O’Donoghue allegedly issued more than 1,000 cash refunds for golf cart rental customers — “even though Bethpage Golf had a strict policy prohibiting cash refunds,” the complaint said.
He covered up this trail of deceit by creating fake debits in Bethpage’s point-of-sale system under the names of his unwitting employees — including a teenager with autism who worked a range ball picker machine, the suit said.
O’Donoghue allegedly nabbed 17 payments that he recorded as have been made by the teen — even though the kid didn’t have access to the system or its registers, the lawsuit said.
He also pocketed 18 cash payments in 2022 and 2023 that were “made” by an employee who had died the year before; took another series of payments made by someone who’d left the job in 2020; and other payments he claimed were made by an out-of-state bookkeeper who never actually went to the park, the suit said.
“As a result of O’Donoghue’s fraudulent schemes, involving the theft of more than three hundred thousand dollars in cash from Bethpage Golf through his recording of false entries in the POS system on more than two thousand occasions, Bethpage Golf sustained damages for which it seeks assorted relief,” the suit said.
A pristine course with five 18-hole courses, Bethpage has hosted major golf tournaments throughout its history, including the US Open. Every year, players compete in about 300,000 rounds of golf on its lush grounds.
Next year, it will also host the famed Ryder Cup, a biennial competition between men’s teams from America and Europe, according to the tournament’s website.
Bethpage Golf Group — of which Brooke is president — has run the course’s pro shop, its driving range, golf cart rentals and private instruction offerings since January 2018, the suit said.
But Brooke and O’Donoghue shared the responsibilities for their little empire, with Brooke overseeing the broader operations while O’Donoghue supervised the day-to-day matters in the pro shop.
The suit said O’Donoghue was the “sole person in possession of the pro shop’s daily cash receipts,” which enabled him to run his alleged scam without anyone else noticing.
When Brooke looked back on the finances, however, she noticed lots of “abnormalities” with various pieces of the finances — including golf cart rentals. But the questionable transactions only seemed to happen on the days O’Donoghue was working, the suit said.
On about 75 occasions, O’Donoghue even logged in as Brooke herself to record fake transactions, the suit said.
He was even confronted about some of the issues — in late 2023, he allegedly stole more than $3,000 in money meant for the caddies.
When someone asked about it, O’Donoghue acknowledged it and said he’d return the money — but he never did.
Another time, he took $3,000 from the Bethpage Golf safe, but never returned it — even after he was confronted about the missing deposit, the suit said.
He also stole other, smaller amounts of cash and forged Brooke’s signature several times — including on a $4,000 check.
Brooke fired him in July, the suit said.
O’Donoghue did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Brooke declined to comment.
The legal filing is the latest salvo in a brutal civil war between the two that kicked off earlier this month when O’Donoghue sued Brooke, claiming he owns half of the business — even though she says he only owns 30%.
Brooke said she put $2.3 million into Bethpage Golf and that’s why she owned more of the company, according to his lawsuit.
But O’Donoghue claims there’s no proof she ever did that.
