MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Federal prosecutors have agreed to resolve criminal fraud charges against three former Austal USA executives in a way that likely will result in dismissal of the charges, according to a court filing Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine “Kit” Nelson wrote in an order postponing the case that prosecutors have agreed to what is known as pretrial diversion and that the U.S. Probation Office had interviewed and tentatively accepted the defendants – former President James Perciavalle; Joseph Runkel, who was the company’s director of financial analysis; and William Adams, who was the littoral combat ship program director.
The judge’s order notes that prosecutors and the defendants asked for a delay in the proceedings to allow the defendants to be formally accepted into and successfully complete the program. Nelson ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office to ask for a…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.