Troubled kids were allegedly strip searched, locked in closets and forced to dig their own graves at a heinous upstate New York boarding school — where local authorities were accused of ignoring the abuse because of the institution’s wealthy owners.
A survivor of the hellish Family Foundation School claimed in court papers he was repeatedly sexually abused and described stunning mistreatment at the now-defunct, $80,000-a-year facility in the tiny upstate village of Hancock, about an hour east of Binghamton.
Students were allegedly “encased” in rolled-up rugs bound with duct tape; forced to eat their own vomit; made to dig their own graves and lie down in them; kept prisoner in closets without food, water or bathrooms for days and physically abused, according to a $10 million Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit filed by a former enrollee of the school.
Pupils were allegedly strip searched upon arrival, forced into “sexualized group sessions” with teachers, and required to work like slaves “for the direct financial benefit” of the Argiros family.
The work allegedly included “digging excavation trenches on the Argiros family estate; shoveling snow to maintain the Argiros family estate; cleaning waste from the Argiros family’s pig pens and farm animal enclosures; [and] performing construction labor on the Argiros family’s private residence,” according to court papers.
Kids were also required to cook meals for the family and clean their house, alleged the former student, who said local authorities ignored reports of abuse because of the “influence” of owners Michael and Cindy Argiros, who own several properties and businesses in the community.
The student, who split his time between his mom’s Demarest, NJ home and his father’s on Roosevelt Island and has sought court permission to be anonymous in the civil case, was sent to the Family Foundation School from 2000 to 2003 and was placed under the authority of music teacher Paul Geer, who allegedly forced him to join the chorus.
He was then taken with the chorus program to Toronto, where Geer sexually abused him, he said in court papers.
When he reported the abuse to Mike Argiros, he was ignored and put on “work sanction,” claimed the victim, who testified against Geer at a 2024 federal criminal trial.
Geer was found guilty of sexually abusing kids and sentenced in September to 27 years in federal prison.
The school recruited kids through fraud, and convinced families to sign over legal guardianship of their kids to the Argiros, the victim contended.
Family Foundation School was run by “former alcoholics and self-identified sex addicts with no professional licensing, clinical training, or educational credentials,” court papers claimed.
Once at the school, K9 dogs were used to “pursue and forcibly return” any kids who tried to escape, the victim said in the lawsuit filed against the Argiros, the village of Hancock, the local police and others.
Michael Argiros claimed in depositions that he was not aware of any reports of abuse while at the school, according to a report.
Village and police officials did not return messages seeking comment. Neither Argiros nor his lawyers responded to messages seeking comment.