Former state official charged with stealing $122,000
The former finance director of the state agency that manages billions of dollars in insurance benefits for state workers and their families allegedly steered more than $122,000 from the agency to a company he owned, and then tried to cover his tracks, according to Attorney General Maura Healey.
Ennio Manto, who was fired from the Group Insurance Commission in December 2015, has been charged by Healey's office with two counts of larceny and one count of conflict of interest. He was indicted by a grand jury and will be arraigned at a later date, according to the attorney general's office.
Manto, 52 of Braintree, allegedly made two wire transfers from GIC funds to a company that he owns, Seaport Equity, between March and June 2015. When an accountant at the agency discovered one transfer totaling $72,342.83 that didn't match internal records, Manto claimed it was payment to a health administrator for a "nonstandard report."
The accountant, however, reportedly discovered that the payment Manto referenced was not due for another year and was for a different amount, prompting an investigation. It was then, according to prosecutors, that Manto tried to alter the original printout of the wire transfer by cutting out references to Seaport Equity and taping in information about the health plan administrator.
The altered documents were later found in a recycling bin at the agency. An additional transfer worth $50,000 made in March 2015 was also later discovered.
"This defendant allegedly stole money that was meant to provide health insurance and other benefits to state employees," Healey said. "Our office will not tolerate those who abuse their positions for their own personal gain."
The Group Insurance Commission in fiscal 2016 had a budget of more than $2.1 billion to administer health insurance and other benefits to more than 240,000 enrollees and 435,000 employees, retirees and their families across the state.
"I want to commend the GIC's employees who discovered the conduct in question and brought it to the attention of the GIC's leadership, who then immediately alerted the Attorney General's office," said Ray Campbell, interim GIC executive director, in a statement. "The GIC will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation."
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