Press Release  State Ethics Commission Announces Enforcement Actions Against Former State Auditor’s Office Employee Brian Scheetz and Consultant Jeffrey Fournier

Boston, MA — The State Ethics Commission has issued a Public Education Letter to former Office of the State Auditor (OSA) employee Brian Scheetz to resolve allegations that he violated the conflict of interest law by representing a private company that marketed software to state agencies in response to the findings of an audit on which he had worked. In addition, the Commission’s Enforcement Division issued an Order to Show Cause today alleging former OSA consultant Jeffrey Fournier violated the conflict of interest law in connection with the same set of facts.

After the Commission found reasonable cause to believe Scheetz and Fournier violated the conflict of interest law, Scheetz agreed to resolve the matter through the issuance of a Public Education Letter and waived his right to an adjudicatory hearing. Fournier did not waive his right to a hearing. The Commission will schedule a public hearing on the allegations against Fournier within 90 days.

While Scheetz was employed in the data analytics unit at the OSA and Fournier worked as an information technology consultant to the OSA, they and another OSA employee allegedly formed a private software company, Riscovery, which was incorporated in September 2014.

In late 2015, the OSA began an audit of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) using a data analytics tool Scheetz had developed for the office to review medical incidents contained in Medicaid Management Information System data. Scheetz, a member of the audit team, wrote queries that allowed the auditors to extract these incidents from the data. In December 2017, the OSA released the results of the audit, finding that DCF did not effectively identify or investigate injuries to children in its care or report all critical incidents to the Office of the Child Advocate (Child Advocate). The audit also found that DCF should require its staff to routinely monitor Medicaid Management Information System data. DCF’s response, which was part of the audit report, claimed it would determine the feasibility of accessing MassHealth claims data in its Medicaid Management Information System that may indicate incidents of abuse or neglect.

Shortly after the audit of DCF was released, Fournier allegedly contacted the Child Advocate and DCF on behalf of Riscovery, identifying himself as a consultant at the OSA and attempting to sell them re-engineered software that could monitor DCF’s Medicaid Management Information System data. On December 20, 2017, the OSA began investigating these communications and terminated Scheetz two days later. On January 3, 2018, Scheetz made a presentation to the Advocate on behalf of Riscovery, demonstrating the company’s proposed data monitoring software.

The conflict of interest law prohibits state employees, including consultants, from representing anyone other than the state in connection with a matter in which a state agency is a party or has a direct interest. Fournier allegedly violated this section of the law by communicating with DCF and the Child Advocate on behalf of Riscovery and pitching the company’s software to them.

In addition, the conflict of interest law prohibits public employees from using or attempting to use their official positions to secure an unwarranted privilege that is not properly available. Fournier allegedly violated this section of the law when he identified himself as an OSA consultant to promote Riscovery’s software.

The conflict of interest law also prohibits former state employees from representing or performing paid work for anyone other than the state in connection with matters they worked on as state employees. The Commission found reasonable cause to believe Scheetz violated this section of the law by meeting with the Child Advocate on behalf of Riscovery to discuss software the company proposed developing in response to the OSA’s determination that DCF should monitor Medicaid Management Information System data.

The Commission encourages public employees to contact the Commission’s Legal Division at 617-371-9500 for free advice if they have any questions regarding how the conflict of interest law may apply to them.

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