Worker Guilty of Fraud for Fake Time Sheets

He said he was working up to 168 hours a week while he was putting in as few as eight hours a week.

Paul Moe Sr. was a general foreman for a Port Elizabeth terminal operator, and a member of the International Longshoreman's Association, the longshoreman's union. The Port Elizabeth terminal plays a large role in any goods trying to be shipped into the New York metropolitan area. The problem is that Moe wasn't showing up for work (sometimes he wasn't even in the country), and yet he was still collecting a paycheck to the tune of nearly $500,000 annually.

Moe was arrested in July and this week, after a seven-day trial, it only took a Newark, New Jersey jury two hours to find him guilty of 13 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 

From September 2015 through March 2017, Moe colluded with his co-worker to make it look like he was working 40 hours a week. His conspirators submitted fake time sheets for him, and even gave him credit for up to 16 hours of overtime a day, and 48 hours of overtime on the weekends. That is a 168-hour work week — note that there is only 168 hours in a week, total.

This allowed Moe to collect a weekly paycheck of $9,300 even though he was showing up for work for a little as eight hours a week. According to one report from app.com, Moe would instead spend his workdays on his yacht, at the movies, at the beach, and even vacationing in Florida and Aruba.

Each count it punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

This is IEN Now with David Mantey. 

More in Operations