A Mount Kisco businessman has been indicted on fraud and money laundering charges for allegedly ripping off a Kansas charity for $4.8 million.
William Byrd Whymark, CEO and president of WMK Research Inc., Mount Kisco, was indicted on Nov. 9 by a federal grand jury in Topeka, Kansas. He was arrested on Nov. 14 when he surrendered at the FBI office in Rye.
Whymark, 50, and co-defendant Robert Nelson Smith, an ordained Episcopal priest in Kansas, were accused of defrauding Saint Francis Ministries in Salina, Kansas from 2018 through July 2021.
Whymark allegedly pocketed nearly $4.8 million that he used to buy jewelry, vehicles and a palatial home in Armonk.
Whymark and his wife paid $3.75 million for the 19-room, 12,343-square-foot house in August 2019. The house was built with hand-cut stone and includes a theater, bar and wine cellar, professional grade gym, courtyard, swimming pool, 12-person hot tub, 8-car garage, staff wing and gardens on 2.9 acres.
His attorney, Benjamin D. Gold of the federal public defenders office, did not respond to an email asking for his client’s response to the charges.
Smith was the CEO of Saint Francis Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides foster care and social services in Kansas and five other states.
When the Saint Francis board of directors decided to improve its IT systems, the indictment states, Smith hired WMK Research in a no-bid contract and named Whymark as the chief information officer at an annual salary of $164,000.
Whymark had claimed he held a PhD in marketing sciences from the University of Connecticut, according to the indictment, when in fact he had no such doctorate. He occasionally traveled to Kansas for Saint Francis business but worked primarily from New York.
He subcontracted the IT services to QubeRoot Analytics and Pinnacle Seven Technologies, both based in India.
He submitted 65 WMK invoices for nearly $10.8 million in services, allegedly inflating the subcontractors’ bills by nearly 4.8 million.
Smith approved the invoices, according to the indictment, even when payments exceeded the amounts he was authorized to approve. The funds were then transferred to WMK’s account at Wintrust Bank in Rosemont, Illinois.
Wintrust sued Whymark and WMK this past February in Westchester Supreme Court for stopping payments on a $500,000 loan. The court awarded the bank a $540,174 default judgment on Oct. 13.
Whymark also submitted a $50,000 invoice for a professional services fee, according to the indictment, that was used as a kickback to Smith.
Besides the kickback, Smith allegedly used the charity’s credit card for personal expenses.
Whymark was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, ten counts of wire fraud and three county of money laundering.
He was released from custody by U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison in White Plains federal court, on posting a $100,000 bond.
