Prosecutors say the Danville company allegedly sought more than $300,000 in fraudulent incentive payments from TVA through software installation in Rutherford County Schools
From the Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Middle District of Tennessee:
NASHVILLE – A seven-count indictment unsealed Friday charged two Danville, California men with conspiracy to defraud the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of more than $300,000, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Anthony Gigliotti, 74, the CEO of Autonomic Software, Inc., (Autonomic) was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud. Alexander Gigliotti, 36, the Vice President of Autonomic, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Both were arrested by U.S. Marshals in Danville, California on Friday and will appear in the Middle District of Tennessee at a later date for further proceedings.
According to the indictment, Autonomic was a software company located in Danville, California, which provided a variety of software to private and public sector organizations. In 2016, Autonomic installed power management software in Rutherford County school systems, in connection with TVA’s EnergyRight program, an incentive-based program designed to save energy and reduce costs through the installation of energy-saving software. To be eligible for the energy conservation funds, customers were required to pay a portion of the software materials costs.
Instead of following the program requirements, Autonomic represented to the Rutherford County School District that schools would not incur any costs associated with the software installation. Following the installation of the software, Autonomic submitted 47 invoices, totaling $588,240 to Lockheed Martin, the contract administrator of the EnergyRight program. The invoices were made out to Rutherford County Schools and represented that each school incurred costs associated with Autonomic’s software installation.
Alexander Gigliotti also sent an email to a Lockheed Martin representative in support of seeking the incentive payments from TVA, with a breakdown of an invoice regarding purported costs incurred by Rutherford County Schools, claiming that the school paid $22 per computer related to software and $8 per computer related to support. In fact, Rutherford County Schools did not incur any costs associated with any invoice from Autonomic. Lockheed Martin then mailed incentive payments to Autonomic that corresponded to each invoice.
The Autonomic software failed to function as initially represented and approximately one year after the installation, Rutherford County Schools purchased energy saving software that could effectively quantify energy savings and which cost substantially less than Autonomic’s total purported materials costs.
The indictment also alleges that Anthony Gigliotti lied to TVA agents by falsely stating that Alexander Gigliotti was not involved in any of the previous TVA or school system work.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.
This case was investigated by the TVA Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers.
An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Well that explains the raid jackets….
The TVA? I swear, sometimes I think this country has time slid back to the 1930s.
Wow. White collar crime perplexes me.
I mean, if you’re already fortunate enough to raise your kid in Danville, send him to a private law school and run your own business into your 70s, why risk a any probability of dying in Club Fed for such a pittance?
I reckon just about all of us over 35 in the core 24-680 communities has accumulated at least a mid-single digit multiple of $300k net worth (or will very soon, on the youngest end). It would be very surprising to hear that the elder defendant pulled such chicanery for decades without being detected, so I presume he was fairly comfortable when he decided to bilk the Feds (never a good decision).
I’m barley half the elder defendant’s age and have everything I need and most of what I want:
I choose what to eat, who prepares my meals and when, generally in my remodeled kitchen peering out past the downslope wooded open space immediately out the back door to sweeping views of the valley below, ridge lines beyond and Mt Diablo soaring in the distance.
More importantly, I get to read to my young child every night and sleep in a king size bed next to a partner of my choosing (if I don’t upset her).
No luxury or additional wealth is worth even the most remote risk of a single meal in a concrete “chow hall”, reading to my kid just one bedtime story over a collect call at a pay phone, let spending alone 240 months sleeping in a cot with a partner the warden chooses.
Agreed… jail is not nice, no matter how gilded the cage (some of those FCI’s have tennis courts, you know). As for the rest of your post, would you consider adopting a couple of beat up ex journalists? We’ll live in your garage and promise to make very little noise…
Ha! It’s quite lovey up here but quite small, certainly by by Lamorinda standards, and i envy your garage (just a carport up here).
The builder managed to cram 3 BRs into less than 1,200 square feet, which means we have roughly the same square footage per capita that minimum security federal prison camp inmates “enjoy;” alas, we’re sans a tennis court.
Well I do declare, what ever will they say at the society gala? (Clutching my (cultured) pearls.)
Perhaps wire fraud is a viable career option and I should rethink my pledge to uphold the Boy Scout Oath, after all….
What makes anyone think that this is their first & only scam?
What school do these guys go to that teaches them they can get away with this stuff?
I can’t imagine that Alex would knowingly perpetuate a fraud on TVS or anyone else. He may have written letters as an accommodation to others, but he would not jeopardize his family if knew what was actually occurring.
Merritt Weisinger
He was Vice-president. That’s a job. “Not-knowing” only takes you so far as an excuse when you allegedly steal from others at age 36.