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Feb 26, 2009 01:58 PM | 3
A University of Florida (UF) professor and his family are under investigation for allegedly falsifying information and funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars from contracts for NASA and other federal agencies into their personal accounts.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) yesterday searched the office of Samim Anghaie, 59, who directs UF's Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute in Gainesville, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stinson in Tallahassee planned to seize several of the Anghaie family's vehicles, bank accounts and real-estate properties, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The federal probe, which also includes NASA's Office of Inspector General, centers on a company called New Era Technology, Inc. (NETECH), where Prof. Anghaie's wife Sousan, 54, serves as president. (Prof. Anghaie has reportedly also held top posts at NETECH.) According to an affidavit filed last week, NETECH has received $3.4 million from the federal government, including about $2.5 million from NASA, since 1999, including a recent contract to develop uranium fuels, the Sentinel notes. Investigators allege that the Anghaies falsified contract proposals and invoices to maximize payouts from federal agencies, and then transferred the illicit monies into personal accounts for themselves and their two sons, ages 28 and 31.
UF spokesperson Steve Orlando told news agencies that Prof. Anghaie, a nuclear and radiological engineer who has worked at the university for nearly three decades, was placed on paid leave Wednesday pending completion of the investigation.
Photo: ©iStockphoto/AlexKalina
Tags:
federal investigation,
fraud,
Samim Anghaie,
University of Florida,
embezzlement
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3 Comments
Add CommentNasa approved the projects. The projects were all completed, even if by family members. This isn't the average family - all these folks are brilliant, at the top of their respective fields. It's not like they passed a high tech project to their uneducated kids who just said they did it. The work was DONE. The price was agreed upon ahead of time. There are NO charges for a reason.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe they were a little too smart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't you think we have enough "junk" in space already?
So the government and UF just give whatever funds is asked from them without getting receipts? That don't fly in my company.
Sounds likr that UF Prof. needs a good UM attorney.
I don't understand why so much secrecy surrounds NASA's culture. The new administration has sent strong signals that there will be a dramatic shift in favor of openness. I guess its going to take a paradigm shift from the last eight years of SOP.
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