Solon Man Sentenced For Defrauding Cleveland Clinic

SOLON, OH — A Solon man will spend the next two and a half years in prison for defrauding the Cleveland Clinic of more than $2.7 million. The man was also ordered to pay millions in restitution.

Gary Fingerhut, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, and one count of making false statements. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Fingerhut was responsible for commercializing some of the Cleveland Clinic's prized technologies. He was first indicted in September 2017.

Fingerhut was an employee of Cleveland Clinic Innovations until he was terminated in 2015 after the FBI alerted Cleveland Clinic to the possible fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman's office. Fingerhut was originally hired as the general manager of information technologies in 2010 and became executive director in 2013 before being terminated.

Before being let go, the Innovations group formed a subsidiary company, Interactive Visual Health Records (IVHR), to develop visual medical charting into a marketable product. Fingerhut hired a consultant, Wisam Rizk, to serve as chief technology officer of IVHR. Both Rizk and Fingerhut were strictly prohibited from benefiting financially, in any way, from IVHR.

However, Rizk and others incorporated a shell company called iStarFZE LLC (ISTAR). The company did not actually do anything, according to the Department of Justice. Despite having no real services to offer, Rizk created a website, email addresses, and a mailing address in New York City for his company.

ISTAR then began submitting bid to the Cleveland Clinic to develop and design IVHR software, and increase the price the Clinic was paying for design and development. It did all this without disclosing Rizk's financial interest in ISTAR.

Rizk paid Fingerhut a "commission" to remain quiet on the scheme. Between August 2012 and November 2014, Fingerhut reportedly accepted more than $469,000 in payments from Rizk. Over that stretch, the Clinic was defrauded out of more than $2.7 million.

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Rizk has also pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy. He has not yet been sentenced.

Last year, Fingerhut released a statement through his attorney J. Timothy Bender. "I apologize for the bad decisions that I made; they were wrong and I am deeply remorseful," Fingerhut said. "I hurt my family, my former employer and my community and I take complete responsibility for my actions."

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