A.G. Schneiderman And I.G. Leahy-Scott Announce Felony Guilty Plea Of State Employee Charged With Running Online Trademark Counterfeiting Stores And Stealing State Payroll
Albany-Based ITS Employee Admits to Time and Attendance Larceny and Offering for Sale Over $100,000 of Counterfeit Cell Phone Cases
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Inspector General Catherine Leahy-Scott today announced the felony guilty plea of Wajahat A. Abbasi, an employee of the New York State Office of Information Technology Services, for stealing over $38,000 from the state by charging time for which he was not present at work. Abbasi was accused of not being present for significant periods of time on fifty-three separate occasions for which he collected pay from January 2013 to December 2014. Abbasi pleaded guilty to offering for sale over $100,000 in counterfeit cell phone cases.
Abbasi pleaded guilty to 4th degree Grand Larceny for the time and attendance theft, and 2nd degree Trademark Counterfeiting, with an agreed upon sentence of five years’ probation. As part of the deal he will also resign from his job and forfeit $120,000, including $38,000 in restitution to the state for lost wages.
“Public servants are expected to be held to the highest ethical standards, and when they violate the public’s trust there must be consequences, just as there were today,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “When a public employee fails to work the hours for which they are paid, it deprives all taxpayers of the services they expect and deserve.”
“The defendant violated his public trust by lying about the time he worked for the state, stealing from the taxpayers by using state time to make a personal profit on the internet,” said Inspector General Scott. “His violation of the public trust and illegal commercial activity has consequences, and I am pleased that the profits he reaped from his misconduct are being recovered.”
Abbasi was a computer programmer for the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), based in the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance in Albany. During the time period when he is accused of collecting pay while not being present for work, he was running a series of businesses that sold technology equipment through Ebay and Amazon. According to court papers, a search warrant conducted at his home in Colonie yielded over $219,000 worth of counterfeit cell phone cases from the manufacturers Griffin, Otterbox, and Urban Armor Gear. Investigators from the Inspector General’s Office had previously purchased counterfeit cases from Abbasi-controlled companies on Amazon and Ebay.
The indictment charged Wajahat A. Abbasi with one count of Trademark Counterfeiting in the First Degree (a Class C felony); two counts of Trademark Counterfeiting in the Second Degree (a Class E felony); one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a Class D felony); and fifty-three counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree (Class E felonies).
Prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Christopher Baynes of the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau. Darren Miller, formerly a Senior Counsel with the Public Integrity Bureau also worked on the case. The Public Integrity Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Daniel Cort and Deputy Bureau Chief Stacy Aronowitz. The Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice is Kelly Donovan. The investigation was handled by Investigator Mark Spencer, with support from Antoine Karam and Dominick Zarrella of the Attorney General’s Investigations Bureau, with assistance provided by Forensic Auditor Jason Blair and Legal Support Analyst Sara Pogorzelski.
Prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Christopher Baynes of the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau. Darren Miller, formerly a Senior Counsel with the Public Integrity Bureau also worked on the case. The Public Integrity Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Daniel Cort and Deputy Bureau Chief Stacy Aronowitz. The Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice is Kelly Donovan. The investigation was handled by Investigator Mark Spencer, with support from Antoine Karam and Dominick Zarrella of the Attorney General’s Investigations Bureau, with assistance provided by Forensic Auditor Jason Blair and Legal Support Analyst Sara Pogorzelski.
