Employee charged with taking kickbacks for A/V contracts

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A federal grand jury has indicted a Yale employee for allegedly taking kickbacks from university audio/visual contractors over the course of nine years.

George Dobuzinsky, an audio visual systems engineer in the Information Technology Services division, entered a not-guilty plea in federal court on June 16, the US Attorney’s office says in a press release.

“It is alleged that between 2005 and 2013, Dobuzinsky arranged to receive tens of thousands of dollars in kickback payments from vendors in exchange for awarding them additional audio/visual project work,” the press release says. At first, he allegedly routed the payments through a friend; later, he set up a limited liability corporation to receive the kickbacks.

The four-count indictment, handed down on June 11, says the kickback payments ranged from $300 to $9,000. Dobuzinsky also asked for, and received, steakhouse gift cards and electronics, the indictment says.

A Yale spokesman says Dobuzinsky is on unpaid leave. He refers other questions to the US Attorney’s office, where a spokesman says by e-mail: “We can’t answer any of your questions at this point.”

The indictment charges Dobuzinsky with taking “tens of thousands of dollars” of bribes. His attorney, Norm Pattis of New Haven, tells the Associated Press that the total is about $122,000.

“Mr. Dobuzinsky did not steal anything from Yale,” Pattis says, according to the AP. “He worked harder than any two other employees in his unit.”

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The Yale Alumni Magazine is published by Yale Alumni Publications Inc., an alumni-based nonprofit that is not run by Yale University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration.