Soon after the 9/11 tragedy, Natarajan R Venkataram was portrayed as a hero by the media, including the New York Times, for his work in helping to identify the remains of the victims.
Last week the media spotlight was again on him, but for all the wrong reasons, after the US Attorney's office filed charges against him and a colleague for allegedly siphoning of more than $10 million allotted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Venkataram directed $5.5 million from those funds to bank accounts in India, the prosecution alleged.
The 41-year-old, who was the director of the Management Information Systems department at the New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and Rosa Abreu, 38, Director of Records, were arrested from Queens, NY, by federal agents December 7.
Officials claim they saw packed suitcases at the home. Abreu, a Dominican native, is reportedly his girlfriend and the two had been living together for some time, prosecutors said.
Both were arraigned before Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck who initially denied bail to Abreu. Later she was granted bail at $400,000. Venkataram was released on a $1million bail secured by $400,000 in cash. He is confined with electronic monitoring to the home of a co-signer, and as per bail terms will be permitted to leave the house only to attend court proceedings.
A 13-year employee at the medical examiner's office, Venkataram was in charge of the computer systems including procuring and supervising outside consultants.
He and Abreu began giving contracts to companies that did little or no work even before 9/11, the prosecution said. However, there is no evidence that the fraud affected the accuracy of the office's identification of the victims, said Emily Gest, the spokeswoman for the Department of Investigation.
'These entities, in turn, funneled the funds into shell companies set up and controlled by Venkataram and Abreu,' the chargesheet said.
After the 9/11 terror attack, the medical examiner's office began to identify the victims through DNA and the need for computer services increased.
'In order to carry out its mission, OCME obtained millions of dollars from FEMA that were specifically earmarked for the purchase of computer hardware, software applications and support services,' the chargesheet noted.
And that is where Venkataram and Abreu entered the picture: the duo allegedly took advantage of the move and steered a $11.4 million contract to a company called Comprehensive Computer Resources, which was controlled by a close associate of Venkataram.
It was another employee at the OCME who first reported the scam to Stephan Zander, Deputy Inspector General for the Department of Investigation at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2004.
'The employee, who worked with the defendants on procurement and payment matters, told me that the defendants appeared to have an unusually close personal relationship, and expressed concern that they also had a close relationship with a vendor, Comprehensive Computer Resources,' Zander said.
Venkataram personally dropped CCR's invoices, picked up CCR checks, and requested expedited processing of CCR payments.
The whistleblower also identified a few other companies that had relations to CCR. In 2004 and 2005, CCR issued checks totaling more than $90,000 to a company called Infodata Associates Corporation. When Zander reviewed the bank accounts of Infodata, he found that the president of the company was Gisela Abreu, Rosa Brieu's aunt.
From 2001 through 2003, CCR, HS Group, and Infotech issued checks totaling more than $575,000 to a company called A&D Marketing Corporation.
The president of it was Aracelis Abreu, Rosa's stepmother. However, Aracelis said she had no role in the company other than sign the checks as instructed by Rosa. The address of the company was the residence of Venkataram in Rego Park in Queens.
Another company named Trade A2Z was paid more than $500,000. The address of this company, too, was Venkataram's home.
Zander then contacted the person who controlled CCR. His name is currently being withheld as he has agreed to help the prosecution. He said he met Venkataram at a training course provided by CCR.
Since CCR was an approved vendor, Venkataram could award contracts to them. But the agreement was that Venkataram would arrange other vendors that were not approved for the work, and CCR could collect a management fee.
The other companies floated by Venkataram would also bid for the contracts along with CCR to make it appear that there was a competitive bid.
After 9/11, CCR bagged an $11.4 million; the majority of that amount was transferred out of CCR's bank accounts by Venkataram using blank checks signed by the informant. Of this, $5.5 million was sent to bank accounts in India.
The company did some work for the medical examiner's office but the majority of the money made its way to companies that did little or no work and were sometimes controlled by the defendants, prosecution said.
Later, the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications evaluated the work by CCR and said it could have been performed for a fraction of the $11.4 million.
The informant also helped to tape record several meetings and telephone conversations with Venkataram. In one conversation Venkataram reportedly told the informant that his life was in the informant's hands.
Mark Potashnick, Venkataram's attorney, declined to comment.
At a bail hearing, though, he reportedly told the judge at a bail hearing that he had documents that would show that higher-ups in the medical examiner's office had signed off on the contracts Venkataram has been accused of plundering.
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