University of Nations CFO pleads guilty

HONOLULU — The former University of Nations CFO pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Monday.

Pablo M. Rivera, 41, of Honolulu will be sentenced Aug. 28 by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Rivera also agreed to repay UOFN $3,096,241, the amount he stole.

According to court documents, between July 2014 and January 2017, Rivera defrauded the University of Nations through a scheme that involved him submitting false invoices for construction related projects on the Christian-based, missionary organization’s campus.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Elliot Enoki said in a press release Monday that according to court documents and information presented in court, the University of Nations tasked Rivera with hiring and paying contractors to do various jobs on the Kailua-Kona campus.

Rivera sent a series of invoices to the University of Nations that purported to reflect the true costs and labor charges of work performed by contractor KJ Walk Inc. but in reality were false and altered KJ Walk invoices.

The altered invoices falsely inflated the actual costs and wages for work performed by KJ Walk. UOFN paid the invoices, resulting in the transfer of funds from the University of Nation’s checking account to a KJ Walk corporate account that was controlled by KJ Walk and Rivera. Once the money was transferred to the KJ Walk corporate account, Rivera made withdrawals from the that account.

The case was investigated by the FBI. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar.

The University of Nations has 600 locations throughout 142 countries.