A former chief scientist with Georgia Tech's Research Institute will spend more than 5 years in federal prison for conspiring to defraud the school and the CIA.
The U.S. Attorney General's office says James Maloney of Marietta has been sentenced to 5 years and 9 months, and two other co-conspirators have also been sentenced for defrauding funds through unauthorized use of Georgia Tech "P-Cards" and outside consulting activities that violated the school's conflict of interest policy between 2007 and 2013.
Maloney will also be required to pay nearly $2 million in restitution, while co-conspirators James Acree of Atlanta and James Fraley III of Canton were given probation terms after pleading guilty to related charges in 2016.
FBI Atlanta Special Agent Keri Farley says in a release that, “Maloney’s sentence should send a clear message to anyone seeking to abuse their positions for personal gain, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable. Thanks to our extraordinary partnership with Georgia Tech, even with Maloney’s defense tactics he was unable to avoid the consequences of his crimes. He will now be held accountable with his coconspirators, closing out this lengthy case.”
According to U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, the charges, and other information presented in court, from early 2007 through late 2013, Maloney, Acree, and Fraley engaged in a scheme to defraud Georgia Tech and the CIA.
The men are experts in electromagnetic analysis and measurements and were assigned to GTRI’s Advanced Concepts Laboratory (ACL), where they worked on projects funded by the United States Department of Defense, various intelligence agencies, and private industry.
