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Arts philanthropist returns to face sex-tourism charges

Arts philanthropist Kenneth Schneider arrived in Philadelphia Friday after being extradited from Cyprus to face federal sex tourism charges, authorities said.

Arts philanthropist Kenneth Schneider arrived in Philadelphia Friday after being extradited from Cyprus to face federal sex tourism charges, authorities said.

The founder and president of the Apogee Foundation, Schneider, 45, is accused of traveling to Moscow where he engaged in a sexual relationship with a young ballet dancer.

Schneider, of Berwyn, faces charges of traveling for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor and transporting a person for criminal sexual conduct.

Schneider, an international attorney whose website said he represented Russian oil entrepreneurs, approached two ballet instructors at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 1998 and offered to provide "assistance" to students. The instructors introduced him to a 12-year-old boy whose parents could not pay for his board at the school. Schneider then convinced the child's parents to allow him to live in his apartment two blocks from the school, according to federal prosecutors.

Soon afterward, Scheider began "grooming" the boy for sexual contact by touching and kissing him and buying him gifts. Eventually, Schneider engaged in intercourse with the boy, according to an indictment unsealed March 30.

The sexual relationship allegedly continued for eight years, during which Schneider brought the boy to Philadelphia to study at the Rock School.