A Baruch College administrator convicted of forgery and grade-fixing also solicited a bribe from a graduate student, a lawsuit claims.
Zicklin School of Business Director of Executive Programs Chris Koutsoutis, 56, signaled he wanted a payoff by rubbing his thumb against his fingers, the “symbol of counting money,” according to court papers.
“Things [should] be done the way they were done in Ghana,” he allegedly told the Ghanaian-born student while making the sleazy gesture.
The former student, Bright Agor, 37, made the accusation in a suit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court against Koutsoutis, Professor Giora Harpaz, Baruch College and the Zicklin School. The Bronx resident claimed he met several times with the administrator — who copped to 21 counts of forgery and falsifying business records in December — to discuss his readmittance to a fast-track executive program in October 2010.
He is seeking unspecified damages after paying $34,830 and airfare from Ghana — only to leave the college without a Master’s Degree.
He had been tossed from the program three months earlier after his grades dipped below a 3.0 average.
Koutsoutis was exposed in The Post in June for his role in a cheating scheme that kept well-heeled Wall Streeters enrolled in the prestigious program.
Harpaz, who would not comment on the lawsuit, claimed he knew nothing about Agor’s bribery allegations. Koutsoutis’ lawyer had no comment. A Baruch spokeswoman said the college looked into Agor’s extortion complaint.