A former Ohio State University employee who sold surplus computers and other items, as well as a former strip club owner who was one of his customers, have admitted their roles in a scheme to skim money from the university.
Abraham Amira, 60, of Columbus, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on June 13 to conspiring to commit federal program fraud and wire fraud.
Amira is one of two recycling vendors who were customers of 59-year-old Michael Brammer, of Pataskala. Between 2007 and 2020, Brammer worked in the university’s surplus department and was tasked with evaluating used surplus items, like computers and other electronics, for the university.
Federal court records say Brammer falsely classified equipment as recyclable and sold that equipment to Amira and 73-year-old Robert Howard, of Columbus. Brammer would sell the items for artificially low prices and receive cash payments from Amira and Howard, court records say.
Both Amira and Howard would regularly pay Brammer thousands of dollars a week in cash, court records say.
The computers were supposed to be sold by the university at public sale, court records say. Both Howard and Amira ran companies that made legitimate purchases from the surplus department, according to court records.
Amira sold some of the items online through a government surplus site, www.govdeals.com, after Brammer gave the site false information that Amira was a certified vendor for items from Ohio State.
Brammer received at least $650,000 in cash that should have been revenue for Ohio State’s surplus department, according to court records.
Amira also pleaded guilty to charges related to spending more than $800,000 in money from COVID-19 relief programs that he received as a result of fraud, federal court records say. Amira used some of the money he got to make a down payment on a Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Amira applied for some of the relief funds in his mother’s name and other funds through Sirens Gentlemen’s Club, which he owned at the time. Amira previously pleaded guilty in federal court on a charge related to tax fraud.
Brammer pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiring to commit federal program fraud. Howard pleaded guilty to the same charge in January 2025. Each man faces a maximum of five years in prison.
Amira faces up to 20 years in prison.
The three men were charged federally because Ohio State receives more than $10,000 annually from the federal government in benefits and grants.
All three will be sentenced at a later date.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@gannett.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Ohio State surplus department worker, strip club owner admit to surplus sale scheme
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
