KAILUA-KONA — Pablo M. Rivera, chief financial officer of the University of the Nations/Youth with a Mission charged with wire fraud for allegedly embezzling at least $1.5 million from the organization, has been released on bond.
Rivera made his initial appearance on Feb. 1 in U.S. District Court in Honolulu where Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang ordered him remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and set a detention hearing for Feb. 6 to consider a motion by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Nammar to have the 41-year-old held without bail pending adjudication.
Nammar sought to have the Rivera held without bail because, according to federal court documents, there is a “serious risk” the defendant will flee and there is no condition or combination of conditions of release which will reasonably assure his appearance as required.
During the Feb. 6 hearing, Chang denied Nammar’s motion and set an unsecured bond of $100,000. An unsecured bond allows for the release of a defendant based on his/her written promise to appear at all court proceedings and to pay the court the full bond amount in the event he/she fails to appear.
According to the conditions of his release, he must surrender any passport and all travel documents and remain at Mahoney Hale on Oahu. He is also subject to GPS monitoring, not allowed to possess any device with Internet access, including smartphones and prohibited from entering Honolulu International Airport.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Rivera was released from custody on Feb. 6.
A preliminary hearing for the case has been set for Wednesday. During the hearing, attorneys will work to establish probable cause to support the charge. If the judge overseeing the hearing finds sufficient probable cause, the case is bound over for further proceedings.
Rivera faces one count of wire fraud. If convicted, according to U.S. Code, the offense is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and fines.
According to the criminal complaint filed Jan. 27 by FBI Special Agent Gregory Turner, Rivera allegedly obtained at least $1.5 million from the organization between September 2014 and January by submitting false and fictitious invoices performed by contractor KJ Walk to the University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona. Rivera and KJ Walk allegedly both controlled the contractor’s corporate account from which the complaint alleges Rivera made numerous withdrawals from “for his own personal benefit.”
The University of the Nations is a Christian-based, missionary organization. To date, it has established 600 locations across 142 countries.