Guilty plea from former Cleveland Clinic Innovations exec Gary Fingerhut

Gary Fingerhut, the former executive director of Cleveland Clinic’s commercialization arm, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court this week to charges he helped defraud the institution of more than $2.7 million.

He is expected to be sentenced in January next year by U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko. Cleveland.com noted that federal prosecutors and Fingerhut have agreed to ask for a sentence that will likely be between 41 and 51 months in federal prison, as part of the plea. He will also be expected to pay back the full amount, although it’s possible he may only be required to pay back the $469,000 he received in illegal payments, allegedly for keeping quiet about the scheme.

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Charges include one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Fingerhut was fired from the Cleveland Clinic in 2015 amidst a federal investigation. He had worked for Cleveland Clinic Innovations since 2010 as general manager of information technologies before becoming executive director in 2013.

Fingerhut set up a subsidiary business called Interactive Visual Health Records, or IVHR, to produce a visual medical charting concept from certain Clinic physicians, according to information cited by the attorney’s office. A person he hired as a chief technology officer for the business known as “W.R.” set up a shell company known as iStarFZE LLC to produce software for IVHR.

Last month Fingerhut offered a statement through his lawyer J. Timothy Bender in which he expressed remorse for his actions and apologized for the “bad decisions” he had made.