Audrea Gause, 26, was charged with filing a false claim for nearly half a million dollars against One Fund Boston (AP)

A New York woman accused of scamming almost half a million dollars from the Boston Marathon bombing victims fund has pleaded not guilty to larceny.

Twenty-six-year-old Audrea Gause, of Troy, was arraigned on Friday in Boston Municipal Court and held on 200,000 US dollars (£130,000) bail.

Prosecutors said Gause got a 480,000 US dollars (£314,00) cheque from the One Fund after using faked medical records to claim she was treated at Boston and New York hospitals for traumatic brain injury suffered in the bombings. Authorities got a tip she may not have been in Boston that day and the hospitals said they did not treat her.

Prosecutor Gina Masotta said Gause used 377,500 US dollars (£246,000) of the money to pay for a new house. Ms Masotta said the funds were being returned.

Gause was arrested July 19 in Troy. She returns to court in September 4.