Jamie Petrone-Codrington who, until 2021 was the head administrator and the director of finance for Yale University’s Department of Emergency Medicine, is awaiting her fate. She has already admitted her guilt. She could be facing up to 23 years in jail.
The 42-year-old defrauded the university to the tune of $40.5 million and in addition, owes the IRS more than $6 million. She stole money over eight or nine years and used the money to finance an extravagant lifestyle including real estate holdings, luxury cars and vacations.
According to the FBI, “as early as 2013 she started ordering electronics, like Microsoft Surface Pro tablet computers, with the medical school’s university funds…she then sold them to a third-party business, which would direct funds of the electronics it sold back to Petrone-Codrington via Maziv Entertainment LLC, a company in which she is a principal.”
The IRS has determined she filed falsified returns from 2013 to 2016, where “she claimed the costs of the stolen equipment as business expenses.” She stupidly doubled-down and filed no returns from 2017 to 2020.”
Full restitution may be almost impossible and the fraud is intertwined and difficult to unravel, as some of the computers and electronics orders she placed for staff appeared to have been legitimate. However, as of this time the FBI has estimated about 90 percent of her purchases were fraudulent. It was money laundering, pure and simple.
Interestingly, and this is a good starting point for the ethical discussion, was a statement made by the Yale spokesperson:
“The university thanks local law enforcement, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their handling of the case. Since the incident, Yale has worked to identify and correct gaps in its internal financial controls.”
Who was watching?
It would appear that for at least eight years, Jamie Petrone-Codrington was using Yale University as her personal slot machine. When the crime was tallied-up, the immensity of her scam was fully realized. She and presumably her husband owned five mansions, several luxury cars and a wardrobe of excess.
In order to fuel the enterprise, she or her direct reports purchased more than 10,000 iPads and Surface Pro computers then sold them out-of-state to a scam company who re-sold them online.
She was caught, only because one day, an anonymous whistle blower observed her loading about 100 computers into one of her luxury cars. As the fraud marched on, she withdrew the funds from a PayPal account as well as other checking accounts.
While I am “pleased” that Yale University has acknowledged it needs to “correct gaps” in its internal financial controls, I am absolutely incredulous that no one was overseeing the sheer magnitude of this scam. There were no checks and balances or oversite or any form of control to determine how or why a single administrator was able to conduct a business of that magnitude.
The need of this fraud artist for cash and power apparently knew no bounds. While I am not aware of where the case could go from here, I can’t help but wonder why her husband, family or friends never questioned how a lead administrator could amass the lifestyle and fortune at their fingertips.
It comes down to a rationalization. Perhaps Jamie Petrone-Codrington, Administrator, who started this scam when she was in her early 30s, looked around and realized that despite the claims of lofty erudition that Yale represents, their budget and accounting people were inept – at best.
Jamie Petrone-Codrington’s lawyer said she was contrite and looked forward to making amends. Ethically, they are hollow words. I’ve no doubt, the scam would have continued to this day. True, she faced a trial, but I would have placed Yale University on trial along with her.
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