A Pennsylvania man was sentenced today to 57 months behind bars for fooling the Department of Education into paying him $2.7 million after he lied about providing special-education and bilingual services to students.
Nelson Ruiz, who collected the taxpayer-funded cash from 2008 to 2012 through six companies he controlled, will also serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence for defrauding DOE and also furthering the scheme by bribing an agency staffer. Ruiz, 36, of Shohola, Pa., copped a plea to masterminding the scheme in December.
Before being sentenced in Manhattan federal court, his lawyer, Don Savatta talked openly to Judge John Koeltl about how Ruiz started the scam by “accident,” first submitting “incorrect” invoices to DOE that he wound up being paid for. Savatta said Ruiz then purposely submitted phony papers a second time as a “test” -- and after DOE still couldn’t catch the false information and paid him again, Ruiz couldn’t stop himself from repeating the process.
“Mr. Ruiz acknowledges it was greed and easy money that drove him and is embarrassed and ashamed that it did not stop years ago,” Savatta told Koeltl.
Ruiz through his plea deal agreed to fork over the $2.7 million related to the crime.
We are so lucky we have had fiscal genius Mike Bloomberg to steward this city for the last 12 years.
I mean, how could this city have survived with Mike Bloomberg?
Look, Mike refuses to go back to the "bad old days". He prefers the "bad new days" of his corruption and fraud.
ReplyDeletegreat posts and let us always remind bloggers that the third term is brought to us by council speaker Quinn. ABQ at all times!
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