KAILUA-KONA — The chief financial officer of the University of the Nations/Youth with a Mission has been released on bond.
KAILUA-KONA — The chief financial officer of the University of the Nations/Youth with a Mission has been released on bond.
Pablo M. Rivera is charged with wire fraud for allegedly embezzling at least $1.5 million from the organization.
Rivera made his initial appearance Feb. 1 in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, where Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang ordered him remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and set a detention hearing for Feb. 6 to consider a motion by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Nammar to have the 41-year-old detained without bail pending adjudication.
During the Feb. 6 hearing, Chang denied Nammar’s motion and set an unsecured bond of $100,000. According to the conditions of his release, Rivera must surrender any passport and all travel documents and remain at Mahoney Hale on Oahu. He also is subject to GPS monitoring, not allowed to possess any device with internet access and is prohibited from entering Honolulu International Airport.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Rivera was released Feb. 6. A preliminary hearing for the case is set for Wednesday.
Rivera faces one count of wire fraud. If convicted, according to U.S. Code, the offense is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and fines.
According to the criminal complaint filed Jan. 27 by FBI Special Agent Gregory Turner, Rivera allegedly obtained at least $1.5 million from the organization between September 2014 and January by submitting false invoices by contractor KJ Walk to the University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona. Rivera and KJ Walk allegedly controlled the contractor’s corporate account from which the complaint alleges Rivera made numerous withdrawals from “for his own personal benefit.”
Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.