Embezzler gets 9-year term, must pay school back $3.1M

As Chief Financial Officer Pablo Rivera was stealing more than $50,000 per month from the University of Nations, he was telling school officials that he had reduced spending at the Kona campus but that the nondenominational Christian school still needed $500,000 to stay afloat.

From around September 2014 to January 2017, Rivera stole $3,128,194, according to federal officials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael David Nammar says Rivera spent the money he stole on a gold mine in Sierra Leone, a home in Colorado, a condominium in Waikoloa, a sport utility vehicle, loose diamonds, spa treatments and plastic surgery. Rivera also lost some of the stolen money on the stock market in the course of day trading.

When he was caught, Rivera told the school’s board that he stole just $500,000 and asked the directors not to report the theft to authorities because his wife had cancer. His wife did not have cancer.

At his sentencing for wire fraud Monday, Rivera told U.S. District Senior Judge Susan Oki Mollway, “I realize over time I became a liar. I need help.”

Mollway sentenced Rivera to 115 months, or a little over 9-1/2 years, in prison. She told Rivera, 42, a Yale economics graduate, that she gave him a break so he can start earning money sooner to begin paying back what he stole.

The maximum penalty Rivera faced was 20 years in prison. The advisory U.S. sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of up to 135 months, or just over 11 years.

Rivera was facing a suggested guideline prison term of no more than 6-1/2 years at his original sentencing date in November. That changed when the government discovered that Rivera had submitted to the court, through a previous lawyer, an altered email and had deleted others.

The deleted emails referenced some loose diamonds that he had commissioned to be cut and mounted. The altered email had a reference to a $1,300 diamond ring deleted.

Kona campus director Paul Childers told Mollway in November that University of Nations is a community of volunteers. Before school officials realized Rivera was the cause of the campus’ dire financial situation, in order to keep the school running, they started charging volunteers for food, membership fees and increased the charge for staff housing. They also started collecting special offerings.

“Me and my wife, we put in more than we could afford,” Childers said. “But it wasn’t just me; it was devastating to me to find out that this activity was happening with young families giving far beyond their means.”

In addition to the prison term and restitution, Mollway ordered Rivera to forfeit to the government the property that officials were able to recover.