Crime

Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding University of $12.8 Million to Spend on USVI Webcam Girlfriend, $400,000 Property

A Florida man has admitted to defrauding his employer of $12.8 million and using some of his ill gotten gains to lavish his U.S. Virgin Islands webcam girlfriend, including the purchase of a $400,000 property in the territory.Ralph Puglisi, age 59, a former accounting manager for the University of South Florida Medical Services Association, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in August 2021. In a recent motion before the court, in which he appealed to be sentenced to less than the maximum of 20 years in jail, Puglisi also claimed that a large portion of the stolen funds went to pay for a “luxurious lifestyle” for his then-wife, a claim that the ex-wife’s attorney has denied.Reporting from NBC’s South Florida affiliate WFLA is that Puglisi began to use his employer’s credit cards to make unauthorized charges to the tune of $11.8 million altogether. Then, he began to spend the money on a U.S. Virgin Islands woman working through the adult website MyGirlFund as a webcam performer, w...