Feb 01, 2013 02:41 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The IRS has filed an affidavit in the Brooklyn Federal Court seeking permission to confiscate maximum possible money from the assets of the late Cecilia Chang, dean at St. Johns University.

Chang, the former dean of the Center for Asian Studies at St. John's, committed suicide in November while on trial for embezzlement and fraud.

Chang is accused of embezzling more than $1 million and  bribing foreign students with scholarships and later forcing them to do household chores, including washing her underwear by hand at her Jamaica Estate home.

She used to threaten them with expulsion from the university if they failed to perform any duties.

Chang embezzled more than $1 million from the school and deposited them in various bank accounts opened in the students' names.

She was arrested and charged in 2010 after serving the University for almost 30 years.

Federal prosecutors are preparing to grab Chang's possible assets to recover the stolen money.

On Thursday, the department approached the feds to take possession of $300,000 from an account with Firstrade Securities that Chang opened in the name of a former student.

Chang, originally from Taiwan, enrolled herself as a student in Asian Studies at St.John's in 1975. Within five years, she was appointed the dean of the department and was even praised and awarded for her fundraising efforts.

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