Ex-Executive at Mass. Education Nonprofit Charged With Fraud

A former chief financial officer at the troubled Merrimack Education Center in Massachusetts has been accused of plotting to defraud the state’s pension system by falsely claiming that members of the nonprofit center’s staff worked for a state-government agency, The Boston Globe and the Lowell Sun report.

The indictment of Carl A. Nystrom, 52, of Pelham, N.H., marks the first criminal case to emerge from an investigation of the center’s former director, John B. Barranco. Mr. Barranco has been accused by state officials of using the nonprofit to siphon millions of dollars from the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, a state body to which the center provided management and administrative services.

Federal and state authorities allege that Mr. Nystrom listed four center workers as employers of the collaborative so they could qualify for Massachusetts retirement benefits. The indictment issued Tuesday also suggests Mr. Barranco similarly helped Mr. Nystrom collect a state pension. A lawyer for Mr. Nystrom denied the charges.