Professor Francois Sainfort and wife Julie Jacko indicted for alleged scheme to be on payrolls of two universities
The Minnesota Daily
March 10, 2011
Two University of Minnesota professors were indicted Tuesday by a Georgia county grand jury for an alleged scheme to continue to receive payments from former employer Georgia Tech after starting work at the University.
Francois Sainfort and wife Julie Jacko of the University’s School of Public Health each are facing several counts of conspiracy to defraud, theft and false statements and writings.
According to the indictment, both agreed in August 2007 to begin working for the University starting in October of that year, Sainfort as head of the Division of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health, and Jacko as the director of the University Partnership for Health Informatics.
The couple, however, allegedly lied about their new employment to Georgia Tech officials and continued to accept several months of salary — about $20,000 a month for Sainfort and $14,000 for Jacko.
“Sainfort and Jacko are extremely disappointed in Georgia Tech’s decision to frame this as a criminal matter,” the couple’s attorney Martin Goldberg said. “In our view it’s always been an administrative employment issue.”
The indictment also alleges that the couple used Georgia Tech funds to pay for airfare to appear at a welcome reception at the University and to fly to North Carolina for an interview Sainfort had at Duke University.
The University disciplined the couple in December 2010, and they were required to reimburse the University $59,000 — money the school had paid for its investigation and for fringe benefits like healthcare.
