George H. Moses, 50, the former Chairman of the Rochester Housing Authority, is facing new charges involving an alleged scheme to defraud Quad A for Kids and Rochester Housing Charities.
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced Thursday that a federal grand jury has returned a 28-count superseding indictment charging Moses with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, according to the Department of Justice.
The conspiracy and wire fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the aggravated identity theft charges carries a mandatory consecutive term of two years in prison, according to the DOJ.
The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick.
“Moses is the Executive Director of North East Area Development Association (NEAD) in Rochester, a not-for-profit neighborhood organization governed by a volunteer board of directors, which worked with city officials and agencies to revitalize and stabilize the Sector 8 neighborhood in the northeast quadrant of Rochester,” according to a statement from the DOJ. “The defendant was also the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA) until 2018, and a member of the board of directors of the Rochester Housing Charities (RHC) from March 2015 to 2017.”
In April, then-Rochester City Councilman Adam McFadden pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
He was previously charged in connection to a federal investigation into a scheme where McFadden illegally received funds from the Rochester Housing Authority.
In the statement, the DOJ said:
“Moses is accused of conspiring with Adam McFadden to defraud Quad A for Kids and the RACF. In August 2017, and February 2018, McFadden created two false invoices stating that Quad A for Kids owed NEAD $4,000 for purported training and other services NEAD provided on behalf of Quad A for Kids at various Rochester City schools. Moses and McFadden fraudulently caused the RACF, on behalf of Quad A for Kids, to pay NEAD $8,000, knowing that services were never provided. McFadden then created two invoices which falsely stated that NEAD owed his company Caesar Development LLC a total of $7,000 for purported consultation services Caesar Development LLC provided to NEAD. In fact, Caesar Development LLC did not provide such consultation services to NEAD. Earlier this month, McFadden pled guilty in federal court for his role in the Quad A for Kids fraud and is awaiting sentencing.”
Moses is also charged with defrauding the RHC by causing the RHC to overpay the RHC’s Executive Director’s salary and to make other payments to the Executive Director to which the Executive Director was not entitled, according to the statement. Prosecutors say Moses transferred money from those overpayments to his own account. The statement says the Executive Director was not aware of these transfers.
“As alleged in the superseding indictment, Mr. Moses, a public servant, unlawfully sought to divert public money to himself,” Kennedy said in the statement. “This Office, together with our partners in law enforcement, will remain vigilant in our efforts to bring to justice all of those, like the defendant, who decide to betray the public trust in order to line their own pockets.”
