Ex-Hillsborough School Business Administrator Indicted In Kickback Scheme

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Former Hillsborough School Business Administrator Aiman Mahmoud and an independent contractor, Kenneth Gratto, were both federally indicted in connection with a kickback scheme.

"This news is deeply unsettling, but it is a continuation of a painful chapter we have been working hard to close for a long time," said Superintendent Michael Volpe on Monday.

The indictment filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey on Friday includes six counts, including conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce and scheme to embezzle from the Hillsborough, New Jersey School District.

According to federal prosecutors, the charges involve a kickback scheme that took place between January 2021 and January 2022.

Volpe said the indictment alleges that Gratto submitted inflated overtime invoices for school facilities projects, which Mahmoud approved in exchange for around $70,000 in cash payments.

In December 2021, Mahmoud, who had worked for the Hillsborough School District for 13 years, abruptly resigned.

Following his resignation, on Dec. 23, 2021, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation and it was announced that former Superintendent Dr. Lisa Atunes was taking "a short leave of absence."

This indictment also follows the federal sentencing in March of the school district's former Director of Buildings and Grounds Anthony DeLuca.

DeLuca of Raritan was found guilty of embezzlement and theft from a government organization receiving federal funds, an offense occurring between July 2019 and January 2022.

He was ordered to pay back $137,000 from the illegal overtime scheme to the district as part of his sentencing.

Volpe emphasized that Mahmoud, Gratto and DeLuca have not worked in the school district once the financial irregularities were first uncovered more than four years ago.

"It is incredibly frustrating to read these headlines, but I want to reassure you that the safeguards we have built over the past few years are robust, secure, and operating exactly as they should," said Volpe. "Our current financial operations are fully transparent and held to the highest ethical standards."

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