Two Harvard graduates will stand trial this year on charges of embezzling $132,000 while heading "An Evening with Champions," the Eliot House ice skating show that benefits a children's cancer charity.

A grand jury handed down indictments on July 20 after a year-long district attorney investigation into the whereabouts of $160,000 discovered missing from the Evening With Champions accounts last summer.

Charles K. Lee '93, who co-chaired the 1992 charity ice skating benefit, pleaded innocent to 66 counts of larceny during his arraignment on August 11. If convicted on all counts--which include 58 charges of larceny over $250--Lee would face up to 302 years in prison.

Lee is accused of pilfering nearly $120,000 and subsequently using it for personal expenses such as credit card payments and bills at clothing stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney's New York, The Andover Shop and Eddie Bauer.

David G. Sword '93, who served as treasurer for the 1991 and 1992 Evening With Champions shows, pleaded innocent to one count of Larceny over $250. Sword is accused of stealing more than $12,000.

Lee and Sword will most likely stand trial between February and May, according to prosecuting attorney Martin F. Murphy.

An Evening With Champions is an annual event featuring world-class and Olympic ice skaters.

The event was established 25 years ago to aid the Jimmy Fund, which raises money for children's cancer research and treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The $132,000 allegedly stolen by Lee and Sword would have covered, with money to spare the entire cost of a bone marrow transplant, according to a spokesperson at Dana-Farber.

Paper Trail

The Middlesex County District Attorney's office launched an investigation of the case when Lee's successors discovered last summer that the money was missing.

Lee and the other organizers of the 1992 charity benefit had promised the Jimmy Fund a donation of approximately $110,000, according to a statement written by Assistant District Attorney Mary Beth D. Cassidy.

To make the pledge official, the organizers held a ceremony at Eliot House, where a commemorative check for more than $100,000 was given to representatives of the Jimmy Fund. No real money changed hands then, but the co-chairs of the 1993 show were expected to deliver about $160,000 when they took over last summer.

The district attorney's office followed a "paper trail" to gather evidence that Lee and Sword took the money, according to Cassidy.

Each count against Lee represents a check he allegedly wrote for himself from the Eliot House fund.