Former NCI controller pleads guilty to embezzlement

The former NCI Inc. controller at the center of several embezzlement investigations since January pled guilty Friday on federal wire fraud charges and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Jon Frank admitted to stealing $19.3 million from NCI's bank account and moving the funds to his personal accounts over 10 years, the Justice Department said Thursday. Frank worked at NCI from March 2000 until his firing in January.

Frank's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. He was the subject of a grand jury investigation prior to the plea agreement.

The plea agreement requires Frank to forfeit assets and fulfill a restitution order to help recover the lost funds, court documents filed June 9 say.

Per DOJ, Frank created false documents to make it appear that the money was being sent as reimbursement to another company that was administering the health insurance plan for Frank’s employer.

When NCI first revealed the embezzlement in January, the company alleged Frank stole $13 million between 2010 and 2015, then another $5 million in 2016.

In one instance from 2016, Frank approved a transfer of nearly $360,000 from NCI's bank account to his personal account via a telephone call, according to court documents.

Frank misled auditors who examined NCI's financial records and subsequently spent the stolen funds on items such as expensive automobiles and real estate, DOJ said.

Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Va. have launched civil investigations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is looking into the potential impact of the embezzlement on NCI's government contracts.

NCI executives told investors in April they were “uncertain at this point” when the company could recover the stolen funds. The insurance claims process would be an “even longer process” as NCI awaits the outcome of government investigations and its own civil lawsuit against Frank.