Former Director of Phoenix VA Hospital Pleads Guilty

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/former-director-phoenix-va-hospital-pleads-guilty

Former Director of Phoenix VA Hospital Pleads Guilty


PHOENIX – On March 1, 2016, Sharon M. Helman, 45, of Surprise, Ariz., the former director of the Phoenix VA Medical Center, pleaded guilty to making a false financial disclosure to the federal government.
(snip)

Helman was director of the Phoenix VA hospital from February 2012 to December 2014. Federal law required Helman to annually complete and file a financial disclosure report and to disclose, among many other things, gifts received during the applicable calendar year. In her plea agreement, Helman admitted that, in March 2014, she submitted a financial disclosure in which she falsely reported that she received no gifts during 2013. That report was false because during 2013 Helman had, in fact, received gifts totaling more than $19,300. The gifts included an automobile, a check for $5,000, concert tickets, and two round-trip airline tickets.

Helman also acknowledged that she filed a false report for 2012, failing to report four gifts of a total value of more than $2,000. Furthermore, although she did not file a financial disclosure report for 2014, Helman agreed that between January 2 and July 1 of that year, she received six gifts valued at more than $27,700.

All of the gifts were from a single source, a person identified in court as a former high-level VA employee who from 2005-2009 served as Helman’s supervisor. During the 2012-2014 time period, that person was an executive consultant, and later vice president, of a consulting and lobbying firm that assisted companies in expanding their business with the VA. Helman acknowledged that, had she properly reported the gifts and their source, the VA would have done a conflict-of-interest analysis to determine whether her acceptance of the gifts was permitted under applicable laws and regulations.
(snip)