Nov 08, 2012 10:33 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Cecilia Chang, former dean of Asian Studies at St.John's University who was facing trial for embezzlement and enslaving international students on scholarships was found hanging in her multimillion dollar home in Queens, New York.

The trial which began Oct. 9 was scheduled to continue Tuesday but U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson declared a mistrial and sent the jurors away after learning the defendant's death.

She was facing up to 20 years in prison on forced labor charges.

The cause of death has not been declared yet, but the officials believe it's a suicide, said Joel Cohen, Chang's attorney to Judge Johnson.

Chang's death came day after she took the stand to defend herself-despite her attorneys advising otherwise-against claims that from at least 2007 until 2010 she threatened to withhold scholarship funds unless students made her food, cleaned her house and performed other domestic chores. Chang also was charged with bribery and filing false tax returns.

On Monday's bizarre testimony which elicited shock and laughter in the court room, Chang admitted she had charged personal items to the school, lied to a FBI agent and asked students to wash her clothes. But she vehemently denied taking money from the school or breaking any law.

"I laid out so much money over the years," she said on the stand. "I raised $20 million for St. John's," The Associated Press reports.

 "That could be one of the reasons she wanted to testify. Sayonara. Get it off her chest. We never know how an individual handles the pressure. She admitted everything on the stand," Judge Johnson said after learning her death.

"We never know how an individual will handle the pressure," he added, calling her apparent suicide a 'Shakespearean tragedy.'

Chang had been indicted separately in Queens state court for allegedly embezzling $1 million from the school. A hearing was scheduled in that case for November 13, her lawyers said. They also added that Chang was a 'prolific fund raiser and tireless advocate for her beloved Asian Studies Program at the university.'

"Her death today is a sad ending to a complex human drama," reads the statement by lawyers.

Chang was St. John's dean of Asian studies from 1982 until 2010 and vice president of international relations from 1992 until 2010.

The university issued a statement saying it was saddened by Chang's death and the community would pray for her family.

SOURCE: REUTERS

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