FOUNDER OF WELLSPRING ACADEMY PLEADS GUILTY TO BANK FRAUD, TAX FRAUD AND MAIL FRAUD
United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Robert Serge Gluhareff, age 62, of South Boston, Virginia, pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud, one count of tax fraud and one count of mail fraud. The plea was entered in United States District Court in Roanoke pursuant to a plea agreement.
“Mr. Gluhareff has admitted that he misled the families who came to Wellspring Academy for his assistance. Through his words and actions, Mr. Gluhareff took advantage of parents desperate to find a suitable placement for their sons and caused parents and some of their employers to falsely fill out their own tax returns. In addition, Mr. Gluhareff put the funds of a federally insured financial institution at risk,” said United States Attorney John Brownlee. “I commend the hard work of this team of agents and prosecutors who have investigated this case for four years.”
According to evidence presented by Trial Attorney John S. Darden and Assistant United States Attorney Jennie Waering, Gluhareff was the founder and CEO of Wellspring Academy in Sutherlin, Virginia. Wellspring Academy opened in the late 1980's, and was a residential school that was promoted as providing counseling in a Christian setting to young people with academic and behavioral problems. Wellspring Academy operated under the corporate name “The Religious and Educational Institute of Raleigh, Inc.”
For a time, Wellspring Academy admitted both girls and boys. By 1997, it was a school for boys only. From 2000 to 2003, approximately 60 to 100 boys attended Wellspring Academy at any one time. Tuition during this time ranged from $43,000 to $49,000 per student.
From 1999 through 2003, Gluhareff and Wellspring Academy became mired in serious financial difficulty and did not have the money to meet expenses.
When parents brought their sons to Wellspring Academy, they were required to pay an initial $21,500 to $25,000 tuition payment that day. Many parents did not have the funds available and were forced to apply for loans. Gluhareff would convince these parents to write initial tuition checks, but promised not to deposit the checks for an agreed upon period. Gluhareff would then deposit the checks in the Wellspring Academy account, knowing that the parents’ accounts had insufficient funds to cover the check. Gluhareff also deposited bad checks written on his own accounts and credit lines. Based on the fact that Wellspring Academy received next day credit on its deposits, the net effect of Gluhareff’s knowing deposit of these bad checks was that the school account balance was articially inflated and that his school received a series of interest free unsecured loans. Because he wrote checks on this inflated balance by the time of the school’s closing in April 2003, the account was overdrawn by more than $40,000.
Gluhareff would also tell parents that certain tuition payments were tax deductible as “scholarship donations” if they were paid in advance. Gluhareff also asked parents to have their employers donate matching gifts to Wellspring Academy, even though Gluhareff knew the “scholarship donations” were actually student tuition payments and not charitable contributions. Based on Gluhareff’s certifications that part of the tuition payment was tax deductible, parents submitted false tax returns that resulted in a total tax loss to the government of $405,051.56.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Virginia State Police, and the IRS. John S. Darden, Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice Fraud Section, Criminal Division and Assistant United States Attorney Jennie L. M. Waering are prosecuting the case.
Sentencing has been set for July 16, 2007 at 2pm.
