Executive Stole $4.8 Million From Compensation Program for Children Injured at Birth

A Virginia man pled guilty to embezzling funds from his former employer, a fund that provides financial assistance to families of infants who suffer from brain or spinal cord injuries, reports the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia.

According to court documents, John Hunter Raines, of Providence Forge, was the chief financial officer and deputy director of the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program, which pays monetary compensation to families of infants who suffer from brain or spinal cord injuries resulting from the birth process that render the infant developmentally and/or cognitively disabled.

Raines’ role required that he oversee the finances of the program, including approximately $650 million in investments in 2023.

Prosecutors said that from at least January 2022 through October 2023, Raines stole more than $4.8 million from the injury program, including by using his access to the program’s bank account to initiate at least 59 separate wire transactions. Prosecutors said he sent funds to bank accounts in his own name and also used the program’s debit card for personal gain.

Raines pled guilty to mail fraud and money laundering offenses. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Raines is accused of spending the embezzled money on various personal expenses, including eight luxury golf carts for over $160,000 and a 2023 Chevrolet Suburban; over $100,000 on gambling at casinos and the lottery. Prosecutors said Raines also paid at least $29,000 to an intimate partner and tens of thousands of dollars to a bank account in the name of his wife, as well as more than $125,000 for private jet travel for friends and family and $9,000 on private limousine services. He made numerous purchases of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin and paid tens of thousands of dollars towards his student loan debt, his mortgage, and other loans.

As a financial control on the birth-injury program, Virginia law required an independent certified public accountant to complete an audit of the program’s accounts each fiscal year. Prosecutors said Raines “deliberately impeded the statutorily mandated audit process” by failing to timely provide the program’s files to auditors when requested.

Source: Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia