|
|
|
|
|
Release Date: 12/18/1998
Release Number:
III-98-12-18-216-PHL
Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone
Number:202.219.8921 |
|
|
|
A Bucks County, Penn. doctor and his wife pleaded guilty of
conspiring to unlawfully use of employee benefit funds and to money laundering.
Their pleas were entered Dec. 14 before Judge William H. Yohn, Jr. in the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. |
|
Dr. Andrew T. Fanelli was a partner in a medical practice,
Regional Gastroenterological Associates (RGA), with offices in Langhorne and
New Hope, Penn. and in Medford and Mt. Laurel, N.J. His wife Angela S. Fanelli
was the firm’s business manager. |
|
A December 1997 indictment by a federal Grand Jury charged the
couple with making unauthorized withdrawals of more than $1 million from the
pension and profit sharing plans maintained by RGA. The withdrawals took place
at various times between September 1990 and December 1992. |
|
Dr. Fanelli was one of two trustees of the plans, which are
governed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The plans
were established to provide retirement benefits for the practice’s
physicians, nurses and other employees. Mrs. Fanelli was also a signatory to
the plans’ accounts. The government alleged the plans’ assets were
unlawfully used for both business and personal expenses. The basis for the
money-laundering charge was a transfer of money from a profit sharing plan
account to RGA’s corporate account and then to the Fanellis’ personal
joint account. |
|
The indictment also charged the couple with two counts of theft or
embezzlement of employee benefit plan funds, but these counts were withdrawn as
a result of the plea agreement. The plans’ assets were restored as a
result of a civil suit brought by the other trustee, a partner in the medical
practice. |
|
Sentencing is scheduled for March 1999. The defendants were
released on their own recognizance. The investigation was conducted by the
Philadelphia Regional Office of the Department of Labor’s Pension and
Welfare Benefits Administration, the department’s Office of Inspector
General’s Office of Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service
Criminal Investigations Division. The government was represented by Assistant
United States Attorneys Robert E. Goldman and Michael A. Schwartz. |
|
(U.S. v. Andrew and Angela Fanelli, CR 97-666) |
|
U.S. Department of
Labor news releases are accessible on the Internet. The information in this
news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive
Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing your
request. Call 202.693.7773 or TTY 202.693.7755. |
|
|
