SPOKANE, Wash – A federal judge in Spokane sentenced a former Washington health care CEO to four years in prison for a $30 million embezzlement scheme.
Patrick Bucknum was CEO of Community Clinic Network. The company managed health care payment contracts for clinics across Washington.
Court documents say starting in 2017, “Bucknum devised a scheme to obtain funds from CCN’s business bank accounts, which he attempted to invest in stocks, options, and exchange-traded funds. Bucknum initially intended to keep profits from the investments for himself and return the embezzled funds to CCN. Bucknum was influenced by social media showing aggressive trading strategies.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Bucknam ended up losing most of the funds he invested, so he embezzled additional funds to cover his losses.
Prosecutors say he bought a $100,000 pickup truck, a $77,000 Tesla and a $33,000 boat.
In all, they say, he embezzled $30 million to invest and returned $7 million of that to the company.
“For years, Mr. Bucknum abused his position of trust to steal millions of dollars from an organization he helped form, money intended to support delivery of health care in communities across Washington,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “As the scheme spiraled out of control, he repeatedly lied to longtime colleagues and stole funds intended for hardworking and vulnerable people across the state.”]
Bucknam pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
District Court Judge Thomas Rice sentenced Bucknum to prison and ordered him to pay back $24 million in restitution.
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