TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A federal appeals court rejected an appeal by the former CEO at Florida A&M University FCU, who said he was incorrectly convicted of embezzling $134,000 of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds administered by the credit union.
In upholding the lower court ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Eugene Telfair, who was president of FAMU FCU, stole at least $134,000 in grant funds belonging to the university, which the university had entrusted to the care of FAMU FCU, and that Telfair conspired with his co-defendant, Robert Nixon, a university policy institute director, to steal those funds and to commit wire fraud.
Nixon’s appeal also was denied.
The two administrators were found guilty of stealing and covering up the theft of federal grant money given to FAMU for small business loans. Telfair was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and Robert Nixon, the former director of FAMU’s Institute on Urban Policy and Commerce, received a sentence of 27 months.
