"This is a person who was thought of as a successful businessman. ... And I think his ability to talk the talk with investors really gave people a degree of confidence that was not warranted," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was counting on people trusting in his reputation."
Big ideas
Alan Brian Fabian was born in Reading, Pa.. He grew up tall and slim with sandy blond hair. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance and economics from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1986.
He moved and worked for the now-defunct Arthur Andersen accounting firm. He developed a name for himself as an accounting expert who helped businesses build better budgets. And he had a knack for surrounding himself with talented people, colleagues said, and the big ideas to inspire them.
Fabian created the accounting consulting company Strategic Partners International LLC during the mid '90s, landing contracts with several government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the city of Philadelphia.
Fabian is "very entrepreneurial. He's the kind of person that if you wanted to close the deal, you could always rely on him," said Eric Dixon, who met Fabian when he was still at Arthur Andersen and later worked for him, most recently at CMAT.
In July 2000, Maximus Inc., a Virginia-based public government services company, paid $1.8 million to acquire Fabian's SPI. Maximus took on the company's nine employees, including Fabian, who became vice president of a new division. They were now part of a team of 4,000 workers in 130 offices across the U.S.
Colleagues said Fabian's division didn't mesh well with Maximus' corporate culture. Fabian and some of his employees grew disenchanted. Maximus representatives either declined to comment or did not return calls.
Fabian started the nonprofit center in early 2003, telling others he wanted to help other nonprofits improve their technology. The Baltimore Business Journal characterized the center as a way to "marry his religious faith to his work."
"Now I worry about the problems I'm going to fix, not the hours I'm going to bill," Fabian told the publication. He eventually left Maximus to concentrate on the center.
Challenges
After leaving Maximus in 2004, Fabian incorporated a for-profit version of the center, called CMAT International, which sold technology consulting services. Over four years, the company received $986,160 in state contracts, including partial payment on a multiyear pact worth $2.2 million for providing software and "strategic budgeting activities."
