Thomas Early, former chief financial officer at the agency's New York office, and Shona Seifert, a former director of Ogilvy & Mather and now president of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, are facing a jury over accusations that they overbilled the Office of National Drug Control Policy between 1999 and 2000.
Early and Seifert have said they are innocent of all charges, and Ogilvy & Mather has not been charged as a firm. The agency settled a civil suit with the government by making a $1.8m payment. Early resigned from his role at Ogilvy the day after he was charged in January 2004.
The charges state that after discovering that billings were less than anticipated, Seifert and Early told staff working on the anti-drugs account to alter timesheets and to note that they had put in a certain percentage of their time working on the account, regardless of whether or not they had.
A third executive, Peter Chrisanthopoulos, has already pleaded guilty to falsifying time sheets and instructing another member of staff to do the same.
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