Canadian Convicted Of Embezzling Retirement Funds From Massena, New York, Nursing Home

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

A federal jury in Watertown, New York, has reached a guilty verdict in the eight-day trial of a Canadian charged with embezzling from the pension plan of a Massena, New York, nursing home.

According to John McGlynn, regional inspector general for investigations of the U. S. Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General, Allan Huppe, 40, of Oakville, Ontario, was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of embezzlement from an employee benefit plan. Huppe, charged with embezzling $750,000 from the retirement plan of the Highland Nursing Home in Massena, had been arrested in Buffalo August 20, 1998 as he attempted to enter the U.S. via the Peace Bridge from Canada.

McGlynn said the case involved transfers, of $350,000, then $400,000 of the retirement plan’s funds to banks in Canada and Bermuda, which Huppe and others later transferred to other banks and partnerships in Nigeria, Japan, and elsewhere. On repeated occasions, according to the August, 1998, indictment, Huppe provided written confirmation to the trustees of the retirement plan that deposit balances at his company, Navy Street Bancorp were in excess of $750,000 when in reality the funds had been disbursed. The indictment charges that Huppe used monies deposited from the retirement plan for various personal purposes.

The maximum penalty for the embezzlement and wire fraud violations is five years ' imprisonment. Sentencing is scheduled for November, 1999.

McGlynn praised the work done by Special Agent Louis Alessi and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the Labor Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Olmstead in Syracuse.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Contact Name: Chester J. Fultz
Phone Number: 212.337.2319