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NHHC partner indicted for wire fraud, identity theft

One of the partners of the Native Hawaiian Holding Company has been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. Quin Rudin (aka Dean Rubin, aka David Rubin) is accused of fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars of cash and equipment from Cisco Systems, Inc.

 

NHHC is currently in a dispute with the local government after the ASG- Department of Human Resources held off on making the last payment of $1.5 million to NHHC, citing “questionable costs and failure to comply with condition of contract” for the $3.2 million that was already paid out.

 

Rudin is facing two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft  according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice.

 

The press release notes that the federal charges against Rudin are only allegations and he is innocent until proven guilty.

 

The FBI arrested Rudin in San Diego last month where he made his initial appearance in federal court, however he remains in custody pending his arrival in San Francisco to face charges, according to the press release.

 

Queries and phone calls to Rudin and Michael McDonald — NHHC’s local Manager — were not answered as of press time.

 

According to DOJ release, Rudin controlled CGC Digital (“CGC”), a company that was an authorized partner of Cisco Systems, Inc. Last fall, CGC contacted Cisco to arrange for the lease of Cisco equipment on behalf of an end user, Altura Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Altura”).

 

Based on the information provided by CGC, Cisco approved the lease of equipment to Altura and agreed to provide more than $5.8 million in financing for the lease. According to the agreement, CGC would receive the Cisco equipment and the financing to install and service the equipment at Altura. In truth, Altura did not intend to lease any Cisco equipment, and no employee of Altura had engaged CGC to arrange a lease, the DOJ document alleges.

 

At the end of October 2012, a representative of CGC e-mailed to Cisco signed copies of agreements regarding Altura’s purported lease of Cisco equipment. Each agreement was purportedly signed by Altura’s Chief Financial Officer.

 

Days prior to submission of these forged Altura documents to Cisco, Rudin allegedly caused the creation of an Internet domain purported to be that of Altura ending in “.net.” This .net domain was registered, not to Altura, but to CGC. Rudin then allegedly caused e-mails to be sent from the Altura.net domain to a Cisco representative.

 

Each e-mail purported to be from the same employee at Altura who had executed the agreements, and each e-mail prompted Cisco to make a payment to CGC. These payments to CGC totaled approximately $2 million dollars.

 

The press release said the prosecution is the result of a one-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

 

BACKGROUND NHHC

 

The NHHC was contracted by ASG to provide training and employment in the contact center industry for 900 NEG participants and was also supposed to operate job placement and supportive services in a setting that would serve as part of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Workforce System.

 

This project was funded by the US Department of Labor’s National Emergency Grant (NEG) and was administered by the local Department of Human Resources.