Comptroller DiNapoli and A.G. Schneiderman Announce Arrest Of Former Siemens Executive For Stealing From Monroe County Project
Indictment Issued By Special Grand Jury After Joint Investigation Of Local Development Corporations By Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau And Comptroller’s Office
Daniel Lynch Charged With Falsifying Business Records To Steal $75,000 For PGA Golf Tournament
Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the indictment of Daniel Lynch, a former sales executive of Siemens Building Technologies and current president of Treadstone Development Corporation, for stealing $75,000 from Siemens and the Upstate Telecommunications Corporation (UTC). UTC, a local development corporation, is a not-for-profit organization that contracts with Monroe County to provide upgrades to the County’s information technology and copier systems. Lynch is charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, and two counts of Falsifying of Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony. The maximum prison sentence for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree is five to 15 years in state prison.
Lynch was arraigned before the Honorable Robert Noonan, Acting Supreme Court Justice of Monroe County. He was released on his own recognizance.
According to the Attorney General's indictment, Lynch, 50, of Rochester, caused Toshiba Business Solutions to create and submit false invoices to Siemens to pay for a portion of a tent at the 2008 Senior PGA Championship tournament held at the Oak Hill Country Club. The indictment alleges that Siemens’ corporate policies prevented Lynch from using company funds to pay for the tent. The false invoices submitted to Siemens by Toshiba Business Solutions indicated that a contractual relationship existed between Siemens and Toshiba for the design, development, and management of a UTC copier project, when in fact Toshiba had already contracted directly with UTC for those services. The false invoices submitted to Siemens totaled $75,000, which Siemens paid to Toshiba. Toshiba then used the $75,000 to purchase the Senior PGA Championship tent. The indictment further alleges that Lynch caused false entries to be made in the business records of UTC and Siemens to conceal the theft.
“My office will not tolerate theft of taxpayer dollars, whether by a public official, or by a contractor for a publicly funded entity,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “Those who scheme to steal from New York taxpayers will be held accountable. I want to thank Comptroller DiNapoli for his continued partnership in our mission to root out public corruption and ensure that taxpayer money is protected.”
"It is past time to shine a light on the shadow activities of local development corporations (LDCs),” State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said. “As my office has found in audit after audit -- including one of the Upstate Telecommunications Corp. – LDCs that operate outside the public eye routinely abuse taxpayer dollars and must be subject to independent review. I thank Attorney General Schneiderman and his office for their thorough work in following up on our audit findings."
The criminal investigation stemmed from a 2011 Comptroller audit which found irregularities in $1.9 million in management fees at UTC.
The Attorney General expressed his appreciation to the Office of the New York State Comptroller for its assistance in this investigation, particularly its Investigations Unit.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Ann Marie Preissler, with assistance from Legal Support Analyst Jacqui Brown and Investigative Analyst Brian Selfon, under the supervision of Public Integrity Bureau Deputy Chief Stacy Aronowitz and Chief William E. Schaeffer, under the supervision of Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Kelly Donovan. The prosecutors were assisted by Organized Crime Task Force Investigator Christopher Reidy, under the supervision of Deputy Chief Antoine Karam and Chief Dominick Zarrella of the Investigations Bureau.
The charges against Lynch are allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.