KAILUA-KONA — After submitting his guilty plea in May, prosecutors are looking at whether or not the former University of Nations CFO committed an additional felony.
Pablo Rivera pleaded guilty May 15 to one count of wire fraud. On Monday, the 41-year-old was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for sentencing, which didn’t occur.
Prosecutors filed a motion under seal that is inquiring whether or not the defendant knowingly tried to mislead the court by submitting an altered email, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar.
Rivera faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Rivera also agreed to repay University of Nations $3,096,241, the amount he stole.
According to court documents, from July 2014-January 2017, Rivera defrauded the University of Nations through a scheme that involved Rivera submitting false invoices for construction-related projects on the Christian-based missionary organization’s campus.
In response to Nammar’s motion, Rivera’s attorney, Lynn E. Panagakos, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel, which was granted. A new attorney will be appointed.
According to court documents, prosecutors made a motion to a revoke bail. U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway denied the request. However, a bail hearing was continued to 9 a.m. Nov. 29 and sentencing was continued to Jan. 8.
According to court documents and information presented in court, the University of Nations tasked Rivera with hiring and paying contractors to do various jobs on the Kailua-Kona campus.
Rivera sent a series of invoices to the University of Nations, which purported to reflect the true costs and labor charges of work performed by contractor KJ Walk Inc., but in reality were false and altered KJ Walk invoices. The altered invoices falsely inflated the actual costs and wages for work performed by KJ Walk.
University of Nations paid the invoices, resulting in the transfer of funds from the University of Nations’ checking account to a KJ Walk corporate account that was controlled by KJ Walk and Rivera. Once the money was transferred, Rivera made withdrawals.
