Yale employee stole $40M from medical school for homes, luxury cars, prosecutors say
A previous Yale Faculty of Medication employee stole $40 million in computers and electronics from the college and sold the merchandise to fund a lavish life style that incorporated luxury autos, several qualities and outings, prosecutors explained.
Jamie Petrone, 42, of Lithia Springs, Georgia, pleaded responsible to 1 depend of wire fraud and a single count of submitting a untrue tax return on Monday in Hartford federal courtroom in the situation, the U.S. Attorney’s Business for the District of Connecticut declared in a news release.
She allegedly ran a scheme for 8 many years setting up in 2013, creating Yale to eliminate out on a overall of $40,504,200, prosecutors claimed.
Petrone begun function for Yale’s healthcare college in the unexpected emergency medication section in 2008, according to officials. She most not long ago served as the department’s director of finance and administration.
In her position, Petrone experienced the authority to make and authorize purchases for the section with a cap of $10,000, the release said.
Considering that at least 2013, she purchased, or experienced other team purchase, thousands and thousands of dollars well worth of electronic components, these types of as Microsoft Surface area Pro tablets and iPads, from suppliers working with Yale Med money. Petrone then arranged to have the hardware shipped to an out-of-state organization in New York, which resold the merchandise, prosecutors mentioned.
That organization then wired cash into an account for a company termed Maziv Entertainment LLC, in which she is a principal, in accordance to prosecutors.
Petrone allegedly falsely represented on Yale inner forms and electronic communications that the hardware was for specified professional medical faculty demands, prosecutors claimed. She also broke up the purchases into orders beneath the $10,000 threshold to prevent demanding any oversight, in accordance to the launch.
Prosecutors explained that Petrone applied cash from the sales of the stolen items for particular charges these types of as real estate, journey, and pricey cars and trucks. In the scenario, she’s experienced to forfeit 6 luxurious automobiles: two Mercedes-Benz motor vehicles, two Cadillac Escalades, a Dodge Charger and a Vary Rover, according to the launch.
She also failed to shell out taxes on the cash from the stolen gear, producing a decline of over $6 million to the U.S. Treasury, prosecutors explained.
According to the launch, Petrone submitted fake federal tax returns from 2013 to 2016 in which she claimed the expenses of the stolen machines as business bills. She did not file any federal tax returns from 2017 by way of 2020, prosecutors stated.
The investigation, conducted by the FBI and IRS, into Petrone’s fraud scheme commenced in August 2021 primarily based on information provided by Yale, an affidavit in the situation stated.
Petrone estimated that about 90 percent of her pc-related purchases were fraudulent, she stated in a voluntary statement to law enforcement, in accordance to the affidavit.
She was arrested in September 2021 and later on produced on a $1 million bond pending her sentencing, officials claimed.
Petrone has currently shed some of the luxury goods she bought for herself with the allegedly stolen funds.
She agreed to forfeit in excess of $560,000 seized from the Maziv Enjoyment LLC bank account, in addition to the 6 cars and trucks. Petrone also liquidated 3 Connecticut homes she owns or co-owns to satisfy her restitution obligation. A Georgia assets she owns is also issue to seizure and liquidation, prosecutors reported.
“Ms. Petrone has accepted accountability for her actions and is remorseful,” Petrone’s legal professional, Frank J. Riccio II, told NBC Information Wednesday early morning. “She now seems to be ahead in the direction of sentencing and restoring some of the destruction that has been brought about.”
The cost of wire fraud carries a optimum jail expression of 20 decades and the cost of filing a phony tax return carries a utmost term of 3 many years.
Her sentencing is scheduled for June 29.