Tulare hospital embezzlement trial drags on after over three years

The largest public corruption trial in Tulare County History will drag on its three-year-long process for another month and maybe longer.

Since 2020, Healthcare Conglomerate Associates CEO Yorai Benzeevi, CFO Alan Germany, and attorney Bruce Greene have been in legal wranglings with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office on suspicion of embezzlement, conspiracy, money laundering, grand theft, and campaign finance violations when they ran Tulare Regional Medical Center from 2013 to 2017.

On Sept. 12, the attorneys representing the three defendants individually gathered for a court hearing at Tulare County Superior Court at 10 a.m. Although much of the conversation was in the judge’s chambers, lasting nearly an hour, all parties agreed to schedule another hearing in October.

Germany and Greene were given possible plea offers during their discussions in the judge’s chambers, away from the public, so the details of those offers are unknown. Their attorneys told the judge they needed to discuss the offers with their respective clients before agreeing to any deal.

Benzeevi’s attorney, Nina Marino, told the judge she needed more time to prepare for the trial, which could begin in November.

“It’s been my position all along that I don’t know that I can be ready in two months for a preliminary trial of this magnitude,” Marino said to the judge.

She noted that she has not received a witness list, so she prefers that the preliminary hearing be set sometime in the spring. However, the judge did agree to a probation and sentencing hearing in October, soon after ending Tuesday’s meeting.

Greene and Germany face potential maximum sentences of over a decade should they be found guilty of all of the charges and allegations, and Benzeevi is facing more than four decades in prison, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a press release.

Among the charges filed:

• Benzeevi: Grand theft, conspiracy, money laundering, and multiple counts of embezzlement by a public officer.

• Germany: Conflict of interest, grand theft, and multiple counts of embezzlement by a public officer.

• Greene: Conflict of interest, grand theft, conspiracy, money laundering, and multiple counts of embezzlement by a public officer.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare hospital embezzlement trial drags on after over three years