BIRMINGHAM, Ala.–Jonathan Dunning, the former CEO of Birmingham Financial FCU and several other organizations who was earlier found guilty of 98 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, could face up to 27 years in prison.
Other people associated with the organizations have already been found guilty and sentenced.
U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance has recommended the sentence in the case of Dunning, who was charged with stealing as much as $14 million in property and funds, including federal grants that were supposed to go to provide health care services to poor people, including the homeless, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to the credit union, which he led from 2008-11, Dunning was found guilty of crimes involving Birmingham Health Care (BHC) and a number of for-profit businesses operating as “Synergy Entities.” Prosecutors said that while with the credit union Dunning served as president, board chairman, and/or loan officer, the AP said.
Charged earlier on various charges were former CFO Terri Mollica; former bookkeeper Sheila Osborne Parker, and her son, James Parker, who was sentenced to six months.
Mollica, who last year pleaded guilty to stealing $1.7 million from the federally-funded center for the poor and homeless, was sentenced Aug. 9 to serve 17 years in prison.
According to Dunning’s indictment, over a period of seven years the organizations received millions of dollars in federal grant funds through the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to provide healthcare services to underserved populations.
Jurors found Dunning guilty on 62 counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and 33 counts of money laundering. Jurors found him not guilty on six wire fraud counts, one bank fraud count, and seven money laundering counts.
Prosecutors said that Dunning, as the former nonprofit CEO of both BHC and Central Alabama Comprehensive Health Inc. (CACH) in Tuskegee, Ala., diverted to his own companies' millions of dollars in federal grant money meant for treating the poor and homeless at BHC and CACH. The prosecutors say Dunning continued to profit from the two agencies, even after he stepped down as CEO in 2008, by setting up companies to contract with BHC for services, including billing, management consulting, and for lease agreements with BHC on buildings.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein is scheduled to sentence Dunning Friday, the AP stated.