Former Bermuda official admits $1.9 million fraud

<p>A former finance official for the government of Bermuda has pleaded guilty to charges that he looted $1.9 million from an account at The Bank of New York.</p><p>Harrison Isaac Jr., an accountant who had oversight over a government bank account used to pay debts in U.S. dollars, entered the plea in a federal court in Manhattan late Thursday.</p><p>Isaac was arrested at an airport in Bermuda in 2004 while trying to leave the island for Atlanta.</p><p>Prosecutors said Isaac, 35, used special access cards to make a series of unauthorized wire transfers in 2003 and 2004. The transfers sent government money flowing into a trio of companies controlled by Isaac and an accomplice, investigators said.</p><p>None of the companies had done any work for the government of Bermuda, and none were entitled to the cash, according to the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan.</p><p>As part of his guilty plea, Isaac acknowledged that he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the government of Bermuda of $1.9 million. His sentencing was scheduled for April.</p><p>An attorney for Isaac did not immediately return a phone call or an e-mail message Friday evening.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/1/132040