According to an article on NOLA.com, the former CFO of OrthodonticCenters of America (OCA), Bartholomew Palmisano Jr, hasbeen charged by federal authorities with making false statements toaccountants and auditors, and with falsifying corporate books andrecords. OCA was a publicly traded company formerly based in Metairie,La.
Palmisano is accused of artificially inflating the company’s valueduring his tenure as CFO from 1998 to 2001 and CEO from 2001 to 2005. Heallegedly entered more than a dozen false credits and assets into theaccounting system, increasing the company’s value by tens of millions ofdollars.
When questioned about the entries, Palmisano allegedly lied toaccountants and auditors and attempted to retroactively conceal theentries in the bookkeeping software, according to the bill ofinformation released by the US Attorney. Palmisano is accused ofchanging the names of the entries to make it look like they had beenentered by another employee who had since died.
Ifconvicted, Palmisano faces a maximum penalty of 20 yearsimprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $5 million fine foreach count.
