Two men -- an IT chief and an IT services consultant -- have been arrested for an alleged scheme involving $3.4 million in fraudulent IT services invoices, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to the criminal complaint: Enrico Rubano (also known as Rick Rubano) and Shivanand Maharaj face two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a false invoicing scheme. The alleged scheme defrauded health and retirement funds of $3.4 million, the complaint claims.
As alleged, over a period of six years, the duo and their co-conspirators generated hundreds of invoices for work they had not performed. Rubano, in his role as co-head of information technology for the funds, approved the invoices for payment, the complaint alleges. The two men were arrested January 19. Both men face two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“These defendants devised a scheme to falsely bill their client for work that was never performed by allegedly using an ‘inside’ employee to approve bogus invoices," according to USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett.
ChannelE2E could not reach Rubano or Maharaj for comment.
