In 2008, former Schneider Regional Medical Center CEO Rodney Miller and many other senior administrators were charged with fraud and embezzlement for allegedly circumventing payroll procedures to fund their personal bank accounts.
After almost fifteen years of two trials, convictions, and appeals, the V.I. Dept. of Justice submitted a move to dismiss the last of Miller’s charges in June, albeit without prejudice.
Government prosecutors think they can win.
Mr. Miller appeared in the V.I. Superior Court on Friday, charged with sixteen counts of acquiring money by false pretenses, putting fraudulent claims upon the government, embezzling or falsifying public accounts, and embezzling by public and private officers. The Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was violated (CICO)
Miller is accused of stealing $1.6 million from a hospital bank account. He allegedly added income and benefits to his employment agreements without the hospital’s board’s approval, according to prosecutors.
The “irrevocable rabbi trust” under his employment contracts allegedly received $625,000 in unsanctioned payments. Board members later told investigators they never negotiated any such trust as part of Mr. Miller’s salary package.
Mr. Miller’s 2005 contract was scrutinized. May 14 or June 21? A board member says she signed the contract on the first date without attachments.
Mr. Miller and another SRMC official met with a financial advisor on June 12, 2005, who advised a benefit package for Miller the next month, including a rabbi trust. The financial advisor claims he was never invited to talk with the board, but the package was mostly addendums to the job deal signed months previously.
In August 2005, senior SRMC executives began referring to a “June 21, 2005” employment agreement, but only a letter mentioning a June 17 offer letter existed. The June correspondence sets a contract period commencing May 14, 2005, and refers “establishing a deferred compensation plan with annual contribution level to be determined.”
Prosecutors claim that the rabbi trust payments were not deducted from his agreed compensation as required. Miller allegedly collected his full salary and trust payments.
Investigators believe the phantom June 21 employment agreement sent another $400,000 to Mr. Miller, who was not entitled to it.
During Miller’s 2019 conviction, then-Attorney General Denise George remarked, “It is undoubtedly a white-collar corruption case that is more complex than average. It’s costly… I don’t think we’ve seen a case that complicated with that much money.”
