YORK COUNTY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT AND MARYLAND EXECUTIVE INDICTED ON FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES

Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a York County Information Technology Consultant and a Maryland Executive have been indicted on multiple fraud and money laundering charges.

DANIEL J. COCHRAN, Jr., age 43, a resident of New Park, Pennsylvania, and DAVID B. BOSSI, age 42, a resident of Phoenix, Maryland, were indicted by a Middle District of Pennsylvania grand jury sitting in Harrisburg last week. The 180 count Indictment charges the defendants with 1 Count of Criminal Conspiracy, 1 Count of Criminal Forfeiture, 48 Counts of Mail Fraud, and 130 counts of Money Laundering. The Indictment alleges COCHRAN and BOSSI perpetrated a scheme to defraud Adecco N.A., out of approximately $2.6 million dollars between 2006 and 2009.

Adecco S.A. is a Global Fortune 500 company with its international headquarters located in Glattbrugg, Switzerland. Adecco provides its customers temporary workforce solutions and employee staffing. In 2009 Adecco S.A. had more than 33,000 employees and 6,600 offices in 60 countries around the world.
Adecco Group North America (hereinafter referred to as Adecco) manages Adecco S.A.’s operations in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Melville, NY. One of Adecco’s four business divisions is Ajilon Consulting.

DAVID B. BOSSI served as a Vice President for Ajilon Consulting. In 2006 BOSSI was appointed Project Executive for Adecco’s Data Center Consolidation (DCC) Project, which entailed the relocation of Adecco data centers in New York, Maryland and New Jersey to a new, consolidated center in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the Project Executive, BOSSI was entrusted with the responsibility of reviewing and approving all DCC Project related invoices.

DANIEL J. COCHRAN, Jr. was the owner/operator of two Information Technology consulting firms, Information Technology Consulting Services (ITCS), and Information Technology Management Systems, Inc. (ITMS).While BOSSI served as a Vice President for Ajilon, BOSSI retained COCHRAN as an Ajilon consultant. After BOSSI became the DCC Project Executive, BOSSI also retained COCHRAN as a consultant on the DCC Project.

The Indictment alleges that one of the objectives of the scheme to defraud Adecco involved a consulting fee, kick-back scheme. COCHRAN prepared and submitted dozens of ITCS, ITMS and TPS invoices for consulting services to BOSSI. BOSSI signed and/or validated the invoices and forwarded them to other Adecco personnel for processing. As a result, Adecco and Ajilon checks totaling approximately $2,600,000 were mailed to ITCS, ITMS, and TPS. Upon receipt of the checks COCHRAN caused them to be deposited into checking accounts he controlled at the Sovereign Bank. COCHRAN then distributed a significant portion of the proceeds, in excess of $300,000, to BOSSI. Sometimes COCHRAN made cash payments to BOSSI. On other occasions COCHRAN issued checks to third parties on BOSSI’s behalf.
The Indictment alleges a second objective of the scheme to defraud involved the submission of false invoices for services and equipment that were never provided to Adecco. Between August of 2007 and August of 2008 COCHRAN submitted at least 64 ITMS and TPS invoices totaling $1,398,959 to BOSSI for fictional consulting services and equipment. Many of the false invoices identified the provider of the service as an unidentified “Sr. Certified Engineer,” “Sr. Engineer,” or “Analyst. ” After BOSSI signed and validated the false invoices, they were paid by Adecco. COCHRAN then shared the proceeds with BOSSI.

The Indictment alleges a third objective of the scheme to defraud involved COCHRAN’s recommendation and BOSSI’s approval of Adecco computer equipment purchases from vendors with whom COCHRAN held secret, undisclosed financial interests. Unbeknownst by Adecco’s senior management, COCHRAN had an agreement with a Colorado based data storage manufacturer that paid him a finders fee on all equipment sales to Adecco. COCHRAN had a similar arrangement with another East Coast vendor. Although some of the computer equipment was inferior or unsuitable for its intended purpose, COCHRAN recommended and BOSSI approved approximately $1,741,801 in equipment purchases from the Colorado manufacturer and approximately $1,580,670 in computer hardware from the East Coast vendor. As a result, COCHRAN received approximately $116,852 from the two companies. COCHRAN also shared these proceeds with BOSSI.

The 48 Mail Fraud counts are based upon 48 Adecco checks mailed from Adecco’s New York headquarters to ITMS and TPS mail drops in Shrewsbury, PA and York, PA. The 130 money laundering counts focus upon COCHRAN’s distribution of the proceeds of the scheme to BOSSI, as well as COCHRAN’s substantial personal expenditures of the fraudulently obtained monies. Together these expenditures exceeded more than $2.2 million.

The Indictment seeks the government’s forfeiture of COCHRAN’s residence in New Park, PA, BOSSI’s residence in Phoenix, Maryland, two late model vehicles owned by COCHRAN, and four ITMS, TPS and BOSSI bank accounts at the Sovereign Bank and Wachovia Bank. The funds in the bank accounts and the two vehicles, a 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche and a 2008 Chevrolet Suburban, were seized this week by the FBI pursuant to federal seizure warrants.

Both defendants are scheduled to surrender to the FBI and appear before a federal magistrate in Harrisburg for their initial appearances on these charges on Monday, August 31, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. The case was investigated by the Harrisburg Office of the FBI and is being prosecuted by AUSA Kim Douglas Daniel.

****
An Indictment or Information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the Grand Jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged Defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.