Janice White, Wire Fraud, New York 2023

Janice White, 60, of Rochester, NY, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the investigation, White, who served as the Executive Secretary for the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA) from 2015 to 2020 and Board Secretary for Rochester Housing Charities (RHC), conspired with George Moses, RHA Chairman of the Board, to defraud RHC.

The scheme, which began on March 9, 2018, involved White creating false invoices from HJJ Property Development Inc. (HJJ Property), a company she owned, making it appear that the company was providing services to RHC when in fact it was not.

The false invoices resulted in RHC paying HJJ Property for services that were never performed, overpaying HJJ Property for services that were performed by legitimate contractors, and paying HJJ Property for services that were performed by other contractors for the North East Area Development, Inc. (NEAD), not RHC.

For example, High Performance Heating and Air Conditioning, a legitimate heating and air conditioning contractor, would provide RHC with an estimate for boiler services. George Moses would email the High Performance estimate to White, who would then prepare a fraudulent and almost identical invoice from HJJ Property addressed to RHC. The fraudulent invoice made it appear that HJJ Property would perform the services for RHC that were going to be performed by High Performance, but the amount requested to be paid on the HJJ Property fraudulent invoice would be more than what High Performance had originally requested for such services.

White would then email the fraudulent HJJ Property invoices to George Moses, who authorized RHC to pay the invoices. On one occasion, White used a legitimate High Performance estimate in the amount of $9,000 to prepare a fraudulent and almost identical HJJ Property invoice to the RHC in the amount $15,000. After the work was completed by High Performance, RHC paid HJJ Property $15,000, and White used a portion of the funds to purchase a cashier’s check made payable to High Performance in the amount $9,000.

White’s scheme resulted in RHC paying HJJ Property for services that were never performed, overpaying HJJ Property for services that were performed by legitimate contractors, and paying HJJ Property for services that were performed by other contractors for the North East Area Development, Inc. (NEAD), not RHC.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick.

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