More Charges Brought Against Executive Director Of NEAD And Former Chairman Of The RHA, And A Co-defendant

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a fifth superseding indictment charging George Moses, 50, and Janis White, 58, both of Rochester, NY, with additional charges. Moses is facing additional charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. White is facing additional charges of money laundering. Moses faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, White up to 10 years. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard A. Resnick and Melissa M. Marangola, who are handling the case, stated that the new charges set forth in the fifth superseding indictment, allege that between February and August 2018, defendant Moses conspired with co-defendant Shirley Boone to defraud the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). In June 2016, Moses, as Executive Director of the North East Area Development Association (NEAD), applied for a $125,000 grant for renovation of the Freedom Market, owned by Freedom Community Enterprise Inc., a subsidiary of NEAD. In August 2017, the grant was approved. Between February and July 2018, Moses and Boone tricked DASNY into believing that NEAD paid Freedom Community $45,000 for construction work which never occurred.  As a result, DASNY reimbursed NEAD $45,000 to which it was not entitled.  

The fifth superseding indictment also alleges that defendant White, who was the Executive Secretary for the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA), and Board Secretary for the Rochester Housing Charities (RHC), started a company called HJJ Property Development Inc. (HJJ Property) in March 2018. HJJ Property, listed as a heating and air conditioning business, was technically owned by White’s mother and stepfather, but controlled by White herself. At times, White prepared a fraudulent invoice from HJJ Property addressed to the RHC which made it appear that HJJ Property had provided services to the RHC. White emailed the fraudulent invoice to defendant Moses. RHC then paid HJJ Property the amount contained on the fraudulent invoice. 

On other occasions, contractors provided the RHC with an estimate for services to be performed for the RHC or NEAD.  Estimates were emailed to Moses who would email them to White. In turn, White prepared a fraudulent invoice from HJJ Property addressed to the RHC, which made it falsely appear that HJJ Property would be providing the services to the RHC that were actually going to be performed by another contractor. The amount requested to be paid on the HJJ Property fraudulent invoice would be more than what the other contractor had originally requested for such services. Moses then approved the payment of the fraudulent invoice by the RHC. The additional charges against White involve her conducting monetary transactions with the proceeds of the fraud to conceal that the proceeds came from fraudulent activity.

The fifth superseding indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Brad Geary.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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