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IRS Investigation Lands Former Yale Employee In Prison For 9 Years

IRS Investigation Lands Former Yale Employee In Prison For 9 Years

A former Yale Medical School employee has been sentenced to nine years in prison following an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation division.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant sentenced Jamie Petrone, most recently of Lithia Springs, Georgia, and formerly of Naugatuck, Connecticut, to 109 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised probation.

According to an official release from the IRS, in 2008 Petrone began employment with the Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, ultimately serving in the high-ranking role of Director of Finance and Administration for the Department.

As part of her job duties, Petrone had authority to make and authorize many purchases under $10,000. As early as 2013, she started a scheme in which she ordered, or requested employees under her supervision to order, millions of dollars of electronic hardware from Yale vendors

Petrone used using Yale Med funds for these purchases, then effectively stole them by arranging for them to be shipped to an out-of-state business in exchange for payment. 

As part of the scam, Petrone falsified information about Yale Med on internal forms, claiming the electronic equipment was necessary for medical studies and other projects. Furthermore, she ensured that none of the fraudulent purchases exceeded the $10,000 threshold that would require authorization outside of her own.

Petrone also had a stake in Maziv Entertainment, Inc., the out-of-state entity that accepted her deliveries -- this means she was profiting from the stolen goods. 

Per the IRS, Petrone ultimately " caused a loss of approximately $40,504,200 to Yale. Petrone used the proceeds of the sales of the stolen equipment for various personal expenses, including expensive cars, real estate and travel." 

Judge Bryant ordered her to pay full restitution and ordered the seizure of various vehicles and properties, including a home in Georgia, a 2014 Mercedes-Benz G550, a 2017 Land Rover/Range Rover Sv Autobiography, and a 2015 Cadillac Escalade Premium.

In addition to all of this, Petrone paid no taxes on the money she received from her thefts. This resulted in a loss of $6,416,618 to the U.S. Treasury Department. 

Petrone was arrested last year, on September 3, 2021. On March 28, 2022, she entered a guilty plea, admitting to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

The IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Yale Police Department worked in tandem on the case. 

What do you think about Jamie Petrone's scheme? For help avoiding errors on your own taxes, match with a local tax expert now.

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