Man accused of defrauding Clinic

A Westlake man is facing charges on conspiracy for attempting to swindle the Cleveland Clinic out of $2.8M, officials say.

A Westlake man is facing charges on conspiracy for attempting to swindle the Cleveland Clinic out of $2.8 million, according to federal law enforcement agents.

Wisam Rizk was indicted in federal court on 29 charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice and 27 counts of wire fraud and honest services wire fraud.

Rizk was arrested Oct. 19. The charges were announced Oct. 23 by U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman and FBI Special Agent-inCharge Stephen D. Anthony.

“This defendant was hired to help develop advanced medical technology, and instead defrauded the Cleveland Clinic out of millions of dollars,” Herdman said. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute corruption and self-dealing.”

Rizk worked as chief technology officer at Interactive Visual Health Records, a company formed by Cleveland Clinic Innovations to develop a visual medical charting concept of certain Clinic physicians into a functioning, marketable product, according to the indictment.

Rizk was hired at Interactive Visual Health Records by Gary Fingerhut, the former executive director at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, federal agents said.

Fingerhut has pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing, according to the federal agencies.

Rizk and Fingerhut, as a condition of their employment, were prohibited from receiving any financial benefit or having any personal or familial financial interests in companies the Clinic did business with, unless they were expressly disclosed to, and approved by, the Clinic, according to the federal agencies.

Rizk and others caused to be incorporated a shell company known as iStarFZE LLC, known as ISTAR, that did not perform or provide any goods or services. ISTAR was established in the name of a nominee owner and Rizk caused ISTAR to establish a website and email addresses and a mailing address in New York City to create the false impression it was an operational business, according to the indictment.

Rizk caused ISTAR to submit a bid to the Clinic to develop and design Interactive Visual Health Records’ software and to increase the price the Clinic paid for the software design and development, all without disclosing his financial interest in ISTAR, according to the indictment.

Rizk periodically paid Fingerhut a “referral” or “commission” fee in return for Fingerhut not disclosing the fraud scheme, according to the indictment.

“Rizk utilized the trust that had been placed in him and his immense technical and organizational skill as weapons against the very company and associates who had entrusted him for the purpose of stealing close to $3 million,” Anthony said.

The investigation is ongoing.