Judge Refuses to Dismiss St. Basil Cases

Philipstown program faces charges of sexual abuse

St. Basil Academy in Philipstown and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America are headed toward settlements or trials in three sexual-abuse lawsuits after a state judge in New York County denied their requests to dismiss the claims.

On May 26, Judge Sabrina Kraus rejected motions filed by attorneys for the school and the archdiocese in two cases: an Illinois man who claims abuse by the Rev. Philip Koutoufas, a former director at the school, and Christopher Bowen, a Pennsylvania resident who alleges abuse by a former teacher, Finley Everett Eubanks.

Kraus said the archdiocese failed to conclusively prove that it had a “limited relationship” with St. Basil and no role in hiring or supervising staff, despite testimony that the school is “an institution of the archdiocese,” which appoints its director. The school and archdiocese also said the alleged abuse was not reported, and there is no evidence that staff saw disturbing behavior.

Three days later, Kraus reached the same conclusions in the case of a woman who says she also endured assaults by Koutoufas as a child at St. Basil. She scheduled a hearing on July 15 in Bowen’s case “to engage the parties in settlement negotiations” and to set a trial date if negotiations fail. She also scheduled hearings in the other two cases to set trial dates.

Her rulings show that the motions to dismiss “were absolutely ridiculous and not based in any kind of reality,” said Bowen on Monday (June 1). “They were just basically a delaying tactic.”

He alleges abuse between 1983 and 1986, when he was 12 to 15 years old. Eubanks, a former teacher and dorm supervisor who died in 2002, is accused of exposing himself to older male students at St. Basil’s, showing them pornographic films, fondling Bowen and asking for oral sex. Eubanks and his wife also hosted Bowen and other students at their New York City apartment, according to the lawsuit.

St. Basil and the archdiocese countered that, “rather than informing St. Basil or the archdiocese of the alleged abuse,” Bowen instead “requested to live with Mr. Eubanks on campus, visited Mr. Eubanks’ apartment most weekends, and moved to Georgia to live with Mr. Eubanks” after leaving the school.

Bowen said in February, “When you come from a background where abuse is all you ever know, which is where I come from, you don’t understand yet that this is not how normal people live.”

The man from Illinois alleges that his abuse by Koutoufas began in 1986, when he was 4 and taken in the director’s truck off campus at night. Koutoufas parked underneath a nearby bridge and began fondling his genitals and kissing him, said the man. The abuse continued for years, with Koutoufas taking him from a dorm two to three times a week.

After each incident, he slept in Koutoufas’ bed before being driven back to the dorm the next morning, according to the man. He also alleges multiple incidents of abuse by another student in the dorm.

Koutoufas is also accused of abusing a woman who says she entered St. Basil in 1983, when she was 10. According to court documents, while riding with Koutoufas in a truck after class, she asked the priest why he believed in God. He allegedly stopped the truck, took her to the base of a tree and “explained the miraculous nature of the transformation of a tiny seed into a large tree.”

When she doubted his explanation, Koutoufas “responded by calling her a nonbeliever with a demon inside of her that needed to be exorcised” and then sexually assaulted her, according to court documents. She said the abuse continued five more times in the woods, as well as in his office.

After each incident, he slept in Koutoufas’ bed before being driven back to the dorm the next morning, according to the man. He also alleges multiple incidents of abuse by another student in the dorm.

Koutoufas is also accused of abusing a woman who says she entered St. Basil in 1983, when she was 10. According to court documents, while riding with Koutoufas in a truck after class, she asked the priest why he believed in God. He allegedly stopped the truck, took her to the base of a tree and “explained the miraculous nature of the transformation of a tiny seed into a large tree.”

When she doubted his explanation, Koutoufas “responded by calling her a nonbeliever with a demon inside of her that needed to be exorcised” and then sexually assaulted her, according to court documents. She said the abuse continued five more times in the woods, as well as in his office.