By Aaron Miller-
A former employee of a non-profit corporation affiliated with the University of South Florida has pleaded guilty to embezzling $12.8 million, and pouring most of it into an adult website.
The University of South Florida announced last Friday that one of their former employees, Ralph Puglisi, had signed a plea agreement in June after embezzling money in the adult website mygirlfund.com.
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The 59-year-old was an accounting manager for University Medical Service Association (UMSA)-a nonprofit organization that provides staffing and other support for the university’s health care enterprise.
Puglisi was fired days after his fraudulent activities were brought to the attention of authorities. An investigative report commissioned by Greenberg Traurig found that the corporation’s director of financing who supervised Puglisi was fired.
Puglisi racked up $12.86 million in non-business charges on UMSA credit cards. At least $11.5 million of this money went to mygirlfund.com in a staggering 22,000 interactions with the site.
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The investigation found an estimated 22,000 interactions with the site were recorded, and a search found that Puglisi had frequented the profile of a woman on the site believed to be his stepson’s fiancée, the report said. It said an Excel document was found that showed the two split $743,968 in profits, with 60 percent of the money going to Puglisi.
The nature of the transactions and other details were unclear, but the report stated: “The investigative team developed a working theory that Puglisi worked either with the principals of the adult content provider, or with the female profiles of the adult content provider in order to financially benefit from funds charged to the UMSA credit card.”
The website allows users to buy credits and then donate them to the people with profiles on the site, who can “cash out” those credits for real dollars at any point. Puglisi visited the profile user believed to be his stepson’s fiancée more than 2,800 times over a two-year span, the report said.
The report also stated that Puglisi frequented the profile of another woman based in Toronto and paid more than $22,486 in airline tickets for her and friends to fly to Orlando. Another $43,662 was spent at Disney World Resorts, the report said.
Payments To Limited Liability Company
Puglisi is also accused of making $647,882 in payments to a limited liability company he owned with his wife, on top of other expenditures, including: $374,598 for personal travel; $190,991 in rent for a family member; $120,575 on household improvements; $21,610 in cell phone bills; $15,765 for a personal real estate attorney in the Virgin Islands; $1,799 for a family member’s wedding costs; and $100 to his wife’s PayPal accou
It found that Puglisi made at least $12.86 million in non-business charges on UMSA credit cards, with at least $11.5 million going to an adult content website, mygirlfund.com.
About 22,000 interactions with the site were recorded, and a search found that Puglisi frequented the profile of a woman on the site believed to be his stepson’s fiancée. The report added that an Excel document was found that showed the two split $743,968 in profits, with 60 percent of the money going to Puglisi.
The nature of the transactions and other details were unclear, but the report stated: “The investigative team developed a working theory that Puglisi worked either with the principals of the adult content provider, or with the female profiles of the adult content provider in order to financially benefit from funds charged to the UMSA credit card.”
The website allows users to buy credits and then donate them to the people with profiles on the site, who can “cash out” those credits for real dollars at any point. Puglisi visited the profile user believed to be his stepson’s fiancée more than 2,800 times over a two-year span, the report said.
It also stated that Puglisi frequented the profile of another woman based in Toronto and paid more than $22,486 in airline tickets for her and friends to fly to Orlando. Another $43,662 was spent at Disney World Resorts, the report said.
In addition, Puglisi is accused of making $647,882 in payments to a limited liability company he owned with his wife, plus other expenditures, including: $374,598 for personal travel; $190,991 in rent for a family member; $120,575 on household improvements; $21,610 in cell phone bills; $15,765 for a personal real estate attorney in the Virgin Islands; $1,799 for a family member’s wedding costs; and $100 to his wife’s PayPal account.
An expanded investigation found Vanilla Visa gift cards, purchased as an employee incentive, that were used for transactions on mygirlfund.com. Through the scheme, Puglisi also sent a check of more than $18,900 through the U.S. Postal Service, resulting in a mail fraud charge, according to records.
The report concluded that UMSA’s internal controls for preventing fraud were weak. The university’s internal audit team identified numerous transactions where Puglisi had processed entries in a way that concealed his actions, the report said.
In a statement, USF said UMSA has since “implemented enhanced control structures, including upgrading financial reporting systems, to better protect against criminal acts.”
The stolen money came from funds generated by patient care and no state, philanthropic, grant or research money was impacted, the statement said.
It said the university “is a victim of a serious crime by a person who held a position of trust.”
Enhanced Control Structures
In a statement, USF said UMSA has since “implemented enhanced control structures, including upgrading financial reporting systems, to better protect against criminal acts.”
The stolen money came from funds generated by patient care and no state, philanthropic, grant or research money was impacted, the statement said.
It said the university “is a victim of a serious crime by a person who held a position of trust.”
Puglisi frequently gave money to a woman who has been identified as his stepson’s fiancée. Excel documents recovered have revealed that the pair split $743,968 (USD) in profits, with Puglisi keeping 60%.
The report noted:
The investigative team developed a working theory that Puglisi worked either with the principals of the adult content provider, or with the female profiles of the adult content provider in order to financially benefit from funds charged to the UMSA credit card.
The website in questions lets users buy credits and then gift them to those with profiles on the site. The site users who receive the credits can then cash them out for real money. Puglisi allegedly did this with multiple women, while it was also found he spent $43,662 at Disney World resorts, as well as a number of other large payments and expenditures, such as personal travel, rent for family members, household improvements and a personal real estate attorney in the Virgin Islands, Tampa Bay Times reports.
As a result of this embezzlement and the investigation, Puglisi has pleaded guilty to scheming to defraud UMSA and agreed to repay the money.
Anthony Rickman, Puglisi’s attorney, said in a statement, ‘Mr. Puglisi has been cooperative throughout the investigation and has taken steps toward paying restitution to the University of South Florida.’
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