U.S. prosecutors charge 3 with defrauding Gartner

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Wilfredo Hernandez, a conductor for Metro-North Railroad, and an unnamed co-conspirator paid kickbacks to two former Gartner employees -- Benjamin Cardona and Kevin Lynch -- in exchange for contracts from the company, prosecutors alleged.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three people were criminally charged with taking part in a commercial bribery scheme to defraud information technology research company Gartner Inc <IT.N>, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday.

Wilfredo Hernandez, a conductor for Metro-North Railroad, and an unnamed co-conspirator paid kickbacks to two former Gartner employees -- Benjamin Cardona and Kevin Lynch -- in exchange for contracts from the company, prosecutors alleged.

From September 2002 through March 2005, they got Gartner to give companies controlled by Hernandez and his co-conspirator about $3.1 million in contracts, prosecutors alleged.

Cardona worked as a manager at Gartner and was responsible for purchases of multimedia services and equipment, while Lynch was his boss, prosecutors said.

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The two don't work for Gartner anymore, company spokesman Andrew Spender said. He added that the company had brought the matter to the U.S. attorney's attention and actively helped authorities throughout the investigation.

Hernandez controlled two companies, Falcon Studio Graphics and Video Inc, and Triumph Corporate Media Inc, while his co-conspirator operated Virtual Office Team Inc and Strategic Media Inc, prosecutors said.

Virtual and Strategic provided temporary employees to Gartner to work on multimedia editing projects, prosecutors said.

Hernandez and his co-conspirator wrote checks drawn on accounts held in the names of the firms they controlled to an adult film Web site controlled by another co-conspirator, prosecutors said.

The second unnamed co-conspirator then wrote checks to Cardona, who shared the money with Lynch, prosecutors said.

Each defendant is charged with conspiracy, commercial bribery, mail fraud and money laundering, and faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison if convicted.

The case was investigated by the FBI along with the U.S. attorney's office. The defendants are expected to be arraigned before a magistrate judge at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan later on Friday.

Lawyers for Lynch and Cardona could not be reached immediately. The name of the lawyer representing Hernandez was not immediately available.

(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Brian Moss and Gerald E. McCormick)