A federal jury found Americable International Inc. accountant Alice Pirchesky guilty on 72 offenses "arising out of schemes to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Department of Defense and numerous cable television networks, and to launder the proceeds of the fraud," according to a statement.

The fraud included "costs that were based on false invoices for work that never had been performed and costs that never had been incurred."

Pirchesky prepared phony bills handed to the Pentagon that asked for her company to be reimbursed for losses incurred due to the closure of US military bases in the 1990s, where Americable provided cable TV service.

The fraud was discovered by a Pentagon auditor, the statement read.

Several cable television networks, including Discovery, ESPN and MTV, were victims of a separate scheme in which Americable undercounted their customer base to pay the networks less to carry their programs.

The false invoices "yielded approximately 40 million dollars in checks during 1995 and 1996 that (company President Charles) Hermanowski falsely endorsed and deposited into his personal bank accounts," according to the statement.

The phony paperwork allowed the company to falsely claim tax deductions worth five million dollars.

Hermanowski fled the country and was arrested in Australia in January 2002, where he is awaiting extradition, according to the statement.

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