Former School of Medicine administrator sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing $40 million from the University - Yale Daily News

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Jamie Petrone-Codrington, erstwhile pb head of the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, was sentenced to 9 years successful situation for fraud and taxation offenses connected to her theft of $40 cardinal from the department.

2:20 am, Oct 18, 2022

Staff Reporter

Eric Wang

After stealing $40 cardinal from the Yale School of Medicine and failing to wage implicit $6 cardinal successful taxes, a erstwhile Yale School of Medicine head was sentenced to 9 years successful prison.

Jamie Petrone-Codrington, erstwhile pb head for the School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, was arrested successful Sept. 2021 by transgression complaint. According to the DOJ property release, Petrone-Codrington was sentenced connected Oct. 13 to 109 months — 9 years — successful prison, with 3 years of supervised release, for fraud and taxation offenses connected to her theft of $40 cardinal from the department. 

“Yale acknowledgment instrumentality enforcement astatine each levels for their handling of this case,” University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote to the News. “Since the incident, the assemblage has adopted further measures to observe fraud; redesigned concern processes; and improved fiscal reporting, analytics, and training.” 

Petrone-Codrington pled guilty connected March 28 to ligament fraud — which carries a maximum word of imprisonment of 20 years — and to filing a mendacious taxation instrumentality — which has a maximum word of imprisonment of 3 years. Her blameworthy plea was portion of a plea statement wherever the advisory sentencing scope would beryllium betwixt 97 and 121 months of imprisonment.

She had besides agreed to forfeit $560,421.14 that was seized from the Maziv Entertainment LLC slope account, successful summation to six luxury cars: a 2014 Mercedes-Benz G550, a 2017 Land Rover/Range Rover SVAutobiography, a 2015 Cadillac Escalade Premium, a 2020 Mercedes Benz Model E450A, a 2016 Cadillac Escalade (4 Door Sport) and a 2018 Dodge Charger. Furthermore, Petrone-Codgrington agreed to liquidate 3 Connecticut properties pursuant to her restitution obligation. A spot she owns successful Georgia volition besides beryllium taxable to seizure and liquidation.

Petrone-Codrington carried retired a astir decade-long strategy of purchasing and reselling machine and physics hardware. 

Employed by Yale since 1999 and the Department of Emergency of Medicine since 2008, she had risen to beryllium pb head and manager of concern and medication for the Department of Emergency Medicine. Petrone-Codrington had the authorization to marque and authorize purchases for departmental needs, of amounts up to $10,000. She would usage departmental funds to bargain physics hardware — specified arsenic iPads, MacBooks and cameras — and past merchantability the devices to out-of-state resellers. 

Petrone-Codrington would typically interruption up purchases into respective orders truthful arsenic to enactment beneath the $10,000 threshold and debar further approval, and past ligament the funds into an relationship of Maziv Entertainment LLC, a institution successful which she is simply a main — a institution owner.

Petrone-Codrington would supply mendacious justification for the orders, sometimes doctoring emails. In 1 lawsuit successful Jan. 2018, Petrone-Codrington edited an email from an worker to marque it look arsenic though they asked her to bid 50 iPads for their screening purposes. She would falsely correspond her purchases arsenic being for circumstantial aesculapian studies and different departmental needs. She estimated that astir 90 percent of her computer-related purchases were fraudulent.

According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Petrone-Codrington would archer her customers that she was capable to usage her Yale affiliation to entree acquisition discounts and overstock supplies of electronics. 

The property merchandise besides revealed that Petrone-Codrington filed mendacious national taxation returns for the 2013 done 2016 taxation years, successful which she claimed the costs of the stolen instrumentality arsenic concern expenses. She past failed to record national taxation returns for the 2017 to 2020 taxation years. This caused a full nonaccomplishment of $6,416,618 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Petrone-Codrington had spent implicit $20 cardinal of the proceeds, with implicit $4 cardinal spent connected travel, astir $4 cardinal spent connected amusement expenses and implicit $2.5 cardinal spent connected retail. 

Though this strategy began arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2013 and lasted until Aug. 2021, astir $25.5 cardinal of the $40 cardinal was stolen betwixt fiscal years 2019 and 2022. 

After the plea, it was recovered that the $40,504,200 full that she stole from the School of Medicine besides included funds from Yale New Haven Hospital.

“Today successful court, Ms. Petrone profoundly apologized to Yale University for her inexcusable actions,” Frank Riccio, her attorney, wrote successful an email to the Associated Press. “She continues to judge work and intends connected continuing with making restitution.”

The lawsuit was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Novick.

KAYLA YUP

Kayla Yup covers Science & Social Justice and the Yale New Haven Health System for the SciTech desk. For the Arts desk, she is covering the Humanities. With an involvement successful the intersections of the humanities and STEM, she is majoring successful Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and History of Science, Medicine & Public Health.

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