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Nathan'ette Burdine's
The Nyle Magazine
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The Nyle Magazine
Monday, October 08, 2012
News
Published September
6,
2012
“Former Columbia University
employees were found guilty of stealing $5.7 million from the
university”
by
Nathan’ette Burdine-Follow
on Twitter@nbnylemagazine
Good jobs with good benefits are hard to come by in today’s
economy. So whenever a person
willfully loses a good job with good benefits, some began to wonder if
that person is dumb, stupid, or both.
This is the case with George Castro, Mosie Jeanpaul, Joseph Pineras,
Walter Stephens Jr., and Jeremy Dieudonne.
The Associated Press reported in its article “4 convicted
in $6 million theft from Columbia U.” that on August 7, 2012, Castro,
Pineras, Stephens Jr., and Dieudonne were found guilty of stealing $5.7M from Columbia University. After
the trial, Castro was released on a $5,000 bond and the others, with the
exception of Jeanpaul, remained jailed.
According to the New York Post’s Laura Italiano’s article,
“Jury selection begins for four men accused of stealing $5.7M from Columbia University,” Jeanpaul decided that a jury trial would be
too much for him to bear. So
Jeanpaul decided to testify against his cohorts in exchange for the
prosecutor’s deal of little to no jail time.
The others faced a jury of their peers and New York Supreme Court
Justice Robert Stolz. And as
expected, Jeanpaul’s cohorts didn’t take too kindly to his deal.
The Associated Press quoted Pineras’s lawyer, Robert Anesi,
as saying, “He is a thief, and he is a liar.”
However, the evidence the “thief, ”
“liar” provided was a
result of his inside knowledge about the thief ring he and his cohorts had
formed.
Jeanpaul
and the others had easy access to the money.
Italiano reported that Jeanpaul, Castro, and Pineras worked at
Columbia University in the accounts payable department; while Walther
Stephens Jr. and Jeremy Dieudonne worked as investors at a brokerage firm.
Italiano identified Castro as the leader of the pack.
Castro and his four cohorts developed a sudden case of the sticky
fingers and went on a two month stealing spree during the Fall of 2010.
New York Presbyterian Hospital was the intended recipient of the
$5.7 million, but Castro and his cohorts had other plans.
The three accounts payable employees changed the routing number
from that belonging to New York Presbyterian Hospital, and re-routed the
money to several accounts belonging to the pack.
According to Italiano, it took 56 payments in order to move the $5.7
million dollars. Hence, the
pack moved approximately $101,785.71 for each payment that was moved.
The money was distributed into several accounts.
The accounts included a brokerage account Stephens and Dieudonne
oversaw, and Castro’s company IT and Security Solutions LLC., an account
at TD Bank. Castro also
withdrew $200,000.00 in cash, purchased an $18,000.00 Audi Q7, and bought
over $18,000.00 worth of Apple products.
Italiano stated in her article “Columbia ‘thieves’ argue $5.7M
just appeared in their accounts” that Stephens and Dieudonne
threw over a $100,000 away into failed investments.
And for their “hard” labor, Jeanpaul and Pineras received $5000
each.
Despite
the fact that Jeanpaul became a witness for the state, the other four
decided that feigning ignorance was their best defense.
They stated that they were the victims of accidental money dumping.
Italiano quoted Dieudonne within the article, “Columbia
‘thieves’ argue $5.7M just appeared in their accounts,” as
saying, “I don’t understand why I’m here.
Money came to my account, to do trade, business, and that’s
it.” However, the
surmountable evidence proved that it was more than accidental money
dumping. The evidence pointed
to a group of individuals who were as guilty as homemade sin.
The access and knowledge the accounts payable employees had about
routing and re-routing payments couldn’t be ignored.
They used the access and knowledge they had in order to re-route
the payments from Columbia University to their banking and brokerage
accounts, which Dieudonne and Stephens Jr. were managing.
Yet, neither Dieudonne or Stephens Jr. could answer why they failed
to alert Columbia University that three of the university’s account
payable employees were moving large sums of money from the university’s
account to one of the employee’s, Castro, brokerage account.
The act in its self should have sent up red flags that something
was not right. But then again, red flags are ignored when someone stands to
benefit from someone else’s ill will.
Assistant
District Attorney Mark Scholl made it clear that the four cohorts knew why
they were there, and that their argument was keen to believing that
someone just “magically” made $5.7 million appear in their accounts.
According to Italiano’s article, “4 accused of stealing $5.7M from Columbia say it just ‘turned up’ in bank accounts,”
Assistant District Attorney Kim Han asked the potential jurors if they
would keep an extra $10,000.00 if it showed up in their bank accounts.
After Han’s slight pause, laughter from the jurors erupted and
filled the courtroom. Italiano
quoted one potential juror as saying,
“Given some of the behavior of the banks in recent years, I would
be tempted.” The criminal bandits did not rebuke temptation.
And as a result, they were charged with and found guilty of grand
theft larceny. All lost their
jobs and good benefits. And
now, they will lose their freedom for a specified period of time.
Email-nathanette.burdine@thenylemagazine.com
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