LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROY VICTOR, of Yorktown, New York, the former chief financial officer of the
Institute for Cancer Prevention (“IFCP”), pleaded guilty today in
White Plains federal court to obstruction of justice, admitting
that he repeatedly lied to federal agents.
According to Court records and his guilty plea to a
felony Information, VICTOR was the CFO of IFCP, a not-for-profit
cancer research institute headquartered in Valhalla, New York,
which received most of its funding through grants from the United
States Department of Health and Human Services (“USDHHS”).
The Information to which VICTOR pleaded guilty charged
that a federal audit uncovered that the IFCP fraudulently submitted
requests, in 1999 and 2000, for reimbursements for non-grantrelated
expenses disguised as expenses that were properly
reimbursable under the specific terms of the grants issued to the
IFCP by the federal government.
As a result of the audit, the IFCP
repaid the funds and agreed that it would provide training to IFCP
employees to ensure that the practice would not be repeated.
Notwithstanding its agreement with the government, the
practice of fraudulently seeking reimbursements resumed, according
the felony Information. When the fraudulent conduct was
discovered, federal criminal and civil investigations were
commenced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States
Attorney’s Office and the USDHHS. VICTOR admitted today that
during the course of the investigation he repeatedly lied to
federal agents by falsely denying that the IFCP had submitted false
statements to the USDHHS to conceal the improper requests for grant
funds from the USDHHS.
As a result of his guilty plea, which was entered before
United States District Judge KENNETH M. KARAS, VICTOR faces a
maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum fine of $250,000
or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from his offense.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 18, 2008, at 11 a.m. before Judge
KARAS.
Mr. GARCIA praised the FBI and the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General for their
extensive efforts in the investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney PERRY A. CARBONE is in
charge of the prosecution.
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