Owner of IT services company pleads guilty to defrauding New York State

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Lakshmikanth Sripuram, age 37, of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today (Feb. 5, 2021) to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a scheme to defraud New York State. Sripuram is the president of PIntegra, LLC.

As a result of his conviction, Sripuram faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years, when he is sentenced on July 6, 2021 by United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino, a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, said.

As part of his plea, Sripuram admitted that between 2015 and 2017, he conspired with Co-Conspirator 1, a former employee of the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) who is not named in the press release, to fraudulently obtain money from OSC.

In January 2015, OSC entered into a contract with a consortium of three companies to identify and hire computer programmers for a project.

When OSC needed to hire a programmer, it sent a request form to one of the three companies.  Each company then submitted a purportedly qualified applicant.

Frequently, the applicants were employed by subcontractors, including PIntegra.  From January 2015 through October 2016, OSC hired 17 programmers for the project at hourly rates ranging from $80 to $120.

In late 2016, OSC learned that many of the programmers’ references and work histories were not legitimate, including those hired from PIntegra. It launched an internal investigation.

Sripuram admitted that, between February 2015 and October 2016, he and his co-conspirator ensured that programmers from PIntegra were hired by falsifying information regarding their experience and work histories, and by providing them with interview questions ahead of their interviews at OSC.

Co-Conspirator 1 then interviewed the programmers, hired them knowing that their qualifications were falsified, and set their hourly rates.

Between February 2015 and September 2017, PIntegra received approximately $870,000 from OSC for its programmers’ pay.

Sripuram kept a percentage of the programmers’ pay.  He then paid Co-Conspirator 1 a portion of that percentage as a kickback.