Simko's name came up repeatedly during trial of Shona Seifert and Thomas Early, two former executives at Ogilvy & Mather--a sister WPP agency--as the executives were accused and recently found guilty of falsifying time sheets on the White House's anti-drug media campaign run by the federal ONDCP. The two were found to have padded bills related to the account, thereby defrauding the government of roughly $3 million.
Simko, 56, had previously worked with Seifert and Early at O&M in 1999, when Simko was the senior partner in charge of media on the ONDCP account. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, a spokesman from the U.S. District Attorney's Office said.
All three are scheduled to be sentenced in May.
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