Former Head of Long Island Non-Profit Accused of Embezzling Nearly $1 Million - Supported Lavish Lifestyle

From the New York Post on 7/18/16:

The head of a Long Island not-for-profit organization swiped nearly $1 million in “consulting fees” to pay for her lavish lifestyle, which included cosmetic surgery, family vacations, spa treatments and her $1.3 million home, federal authorities in Brooklyn charged Monday.

Wafa Abboud allegedly ripped off $900,000 from Human First Inc., a social-services provider for those with autism and other developmental disabilities, between January 2011 and May 2016, according to a criminal complaint.

She served as executive director of the nonprofit from 2010 through May 2016, when she was fired.
The organization paid at least $16,000 a month — and sometimes more — to consulting firm MPB Management, a company run by one of Abboud’s cohorts, Marcelle Bailey, court papers say.

A federal investigation found that after the money was transferred to MPB Management, Abboud, 48, used the firm’s bank account to pay off at least $114,000 in personal credit-card debt she had racked up on vacations, jewelry and dining out, officials charged.

She also allegedly wired about $67,000 from MPB Management accounts to herself — and drew checks from it, including $8,000 for a “cosmetic-surgery bill,” according to the court complaint.

About $340,000 in ill-gotten gains were used as a down payment on Abboud’s home in Merrick, LI.
She is also accused of swiping more than $3,5000 to pay for property taxes.

Abboud and a co-defendant, Rami Misbah Taha, crafted a similar money-laundering scheme when it came to funding renovations for the home, according to the complaint.

Human First paid out more than $400,000 to a company controlled by Taha for purported “repairs” to its facilities — but the money was then funneled to a construction business that was doing upgrades on Abboud’s abode, the court documents say.

Prosecutors say Abboud also wired more than $23,000 to people in Morocco and Egypt between 2012 and 2014.

Abboud, Taha and Bailey were indicted last week on charges of embezzlement, conspiracy, money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud for allegedly making false statements in order to secure a $1 million mortgage for the Merrick house.

They were arrested on the charges last month and released on bail, according to court records.

Former Paralegal In Georgia Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $600K From Law Firm's Client Accounts

From the Augusta Chronicle on 3/12/2015:

A paralegal who was accused of stealing almost $600,000 from a law firm and its clients pleaded guilty Tuesday after just two days of a trial in which he represented himself.

Richard Owen faced 253 counts of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. From 2007 to 2012, Owen worked for the Victor Hawk law firm. His duties included ensuring medical bills were paid for clients with civil financial settlements, and that clients received all money left over after the firm was paid its fee, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari said during proceedings Monday.

Solari said Owen would write out checks in clients’ names, forge their signatures and deposit the checks in his personal bank account. Owen’s signature was later recognized after clients began to voice concerns, Solari said.

 By the time the scheme unravelled, Owen had spent more than $550,000 on collectible coins, Solari said.

Attorney Victor Hawk said after the plea Tuesday that Owen could now face a prison sentence up to 50 years.

Brenda Barrette has been confined to a wheelchair since a 2008 accident. She testified Tuesday that she never saw any of the 26 checks totaling more than $113,000 that Owen deposited. Owen was supposed to help her with the insurance settlement and pay all of the bills accumulated during 13 surgeries and medical treatments after an infection settled into the hip she broke.

“I kept getting the bills,” Barrette testified. Barrette was one of 41 clients whose signatures were allegedly forged on the checks deposited into Owen’s account.

Attorney Melissa Detche­mendy, an associate at the Victor Hawk law firm for 11 years, testified that when Owen left the firm in the summer of 2012, his calls started coming to her. Clients’ medical expenses that were supposed to have been paid – and according to the records Owen created, were paid – were still due.

She and Hawk went to retrieve the firm’s bank records but they had disappeared, Detchemendy testified.

When replacement bank records from 2011 arrived, Detchemendy testified she was responsible for going through them. Dozens of checks made out to clients were in the records and for the first time she saw the back side of the checks with the signature lines. The signatures were in Owen’s handwriting, Detchemendy testified.

Former Municipal Recreation Department Manager In Kansas Indicted For Embezzling $125K

From Fox 4 Kansas City on 3/9/2015:

It was announced Monday that the former recreation director for the City of Osawatomie is scheduled to appear in court this month on a federal indictment alleging he embezzled more than $125,000 from the city.

According to a news release from the Office of U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, Ron Maring, 53, of Osawatomie, Kansas, is scheduled for an initial court appearance on March 27 in U.S. District Court in Wichita. Maring is charged with four counts of tax fraud and 10 counts of money laundering.

Per the release, the indictment alleges that from 2008 to 2011 while Maring was director of the Osawatomie Recreation Commission he embezzled approximately $125,665. He wrote checks from the recreation commission’s account to himself and to American Legion Baseball. He converted the money for his own use and not for the use of the recreation commission or American Legion Baseball.

As part of the scheme, he persuaded recreation commission board members to sign blank checks, used his own signature as an endorsement, instructed a recreation commission employee to endorse checks and forged the name of recreation commission members.

The indictment alleges he failed to report the embezzled money as income on his 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 federal income taxes. The indictment also cites 10 dates in 2011 in which Maring deposited stolen funds into his personal account.

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North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $11 Million In Payroll Tax Fraud Scheme - Lived Lavishly

From WSOCTV on 3/5/2015:

An Iron Station man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday on charges he bilked $11 million from clients and used it to fund a lavish lifestyle, including strip club visits and three-tiered pools.

James Staz, 44, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion as part of a plea agreement. A superseding indictment filed in court charged him with 16 counts.

James Staz and his father, William Staz, operated payroll company Employee-Services.net and provided several duties for clients, including collecting and paying employment taxes, investigators said.

Court documents allege the company collected $11 million to be used for federal and state employment taxes, but in reality it went toward James Staz and Williams Staz's lifestyles.

The executive director of one of the victim companies, The Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project, said the first realized something was wrong in early 2014.

"We received a phone call from an IRS agent asking us where our most recent tax withholdings check was," said Mike Mathers, executive director for the company. The nonprofit helps children with disabilities.

"Employee Services took care of (our tax withholdings) and apparently that was the beginning of (Employee Services) not taking care of it," Mathers said.

James Staz on a single day "spent a total of $38,880 at strip clubs and night clubs," the indictment indicated.

Investigators want the pair to pay for their alleged financial crimes.

The father and son's company once had around "500 client companies located in North Carolina" and other states, according to the indictment.

James Staz could face up to 20 years in prison.

California Woman Accused Of Embezzling $438K From Catholic School

From CBS Los Angeles on 2/24/15:

A former office manager for Holy Family Cathedral School in Orange was arrested Tuesday on charges of embezzling more than $400,000 from the school over a five-year period.

Adela Maria Tapia, 40, of Tustin, was arrested outside Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana as she dropped off one of her children for school, Senior Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche said. She is accused of stealing about $438,000 between September 2006 and September 2011.

Tapia coordinated Holy Family’s scrip card program — fundraising cash cards which the school bought at a discount and sold at face value.The scrip card program raises about $200,000 for the school each year, prosecutors said.

Tapia allegedly took scrip cards from the school’s safe, sold them and kept the profits from those who paid cash, Labreche said. She also allegedly ordered scrip cards and pocketed the cash payments from selling them.

Labreche said Tapia sold the cards to family members, including an ordained deacon in the Diocese of Orange, for “lifestyle enhancement using other people’s money.” Prosecutors say Tapia used some of the stolen funds to buy luxury clothing and goods from department stores and to pay for tuition for her children at Holy Family Cathedral School and Mater Dei.

The alleged scheme was uncovered when Tapia was transferred to an office manager job and $120,000 in scrip cards were found missing.

The Diocese of Orange released the following statement:

“In 2012 Holy Family Cathedral School in Orange discovered that an employee had violated the trust of the school and parish through their mismanagement of the school’s scrip program. This employee was immediately released from their employment at the school after the irregularities in the scrips program were discovered and the matter was referred to law enforcement. After an exhaustive investigation the Orange County District Attorney has decided to pursue several criminal charges in this case.”

The school has since “instituted more robust financial controls to ensure this issue is not repeated,” according to the statement.

Labreche said the Diocese has been fully cooperative in the investigation.

Tapia, who is charged with two felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement and 13 felony counts of money laundering, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. She could face up to 14 years and four months in prison if she is convicted at trial.

The case took several years to investigate because of its complexity, Labreche said.

“There’s 83,000 pages of discovery (evidence) in this case,” Labreche said.

Missouri Woman Sentenced For Embezzling $300K From Condo Association

From the Buffalo Reflex on 1/29/2015:

Tammy Dickinson, United States attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced Jan. 21 that a Galena woman was sentenced in federal court for embezzling more than $300,000 from her employer.

Sarah N. Underwood, 36, of Galena was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Jan. 20 to two years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Underwood to pay $311,280 in restitution to Fall Creek Condominium and $95,008 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, for total restitution payments of $406,288.

On March 17, Underwood pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and failure to file a tax return. Underwood worked as the community manager for Fall Creek Condominium in Branson from Jan. 15, 2007, until she was fired on Sept. 7, 2012, when her theft was discovered. Fall Creek and its owners association has 639 condominiums owned by individuals and under its association. Among other duties, Underwood was responsible for the bookkeeping and financial affairs of Fall Creek, and was an authorized signatory on the checking accounts.

Underwood’s wire fraud, money laundering scheme and tax fraud extended over two years and totaled $406,288 in losses to her employer and the government.

Underwood conducted numerous unauthorized electronic bank transfers and wrote $311,280 in unauthorized checks from the bank accounts of the Fall Creek Condominium Owner’s Association over a two-year period. Underwood also received two paychecks every two weeks from Fall Creek. Underwood deposited these checks into her bank accounts and spent the money on personal expenses and purchasing luxury items.

For example, Underwood admitted that she spent $76,287 to purchase a Shelby Mustang and used $25,505 to purchase a condominium at Fall Creek. Underwood also purchased a 2012 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a 2012 Yamaha wave-runner.

Underwood used a cashier’s check written on her employer’s bank account to purchase a 2012 Ford F350 Super Duty 4X4 Crew Cab Truck for $56,169. The truck was registered to Mstrmind Enterprises, a company owned by her and her boyfriend, which performed construction and rehabilitation work at Fall Creek. Underwood was responsible for running the business affairs of Mstrmind, while her boyfriend, who was also employed by Fall Creek, was the project manager and responsible for the actual construction or rehabilitation project. The embezzlement scheme included an $80,000 check written to Mstrmind for work that was never performed.

Underwood also admitted that she failed to file federal tax returns for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

According to court documents, after pleading guilty in this case, Underwood became involved in another incident that further casts suspicion on her because of monies from a not-for-profit organization that were in her possession and went missing. On May 13 the Branson Police Department received a report from Biker’s Against Drunk Drivers regarding the possible theft of a bank deposit totaling $1,997. Although BADD chose not to proceed with a criminal prosecution, court documents note, Underwood engaged in behavior that placed her under suspicion for theft and fraud while she was facing a sentencing for similar conduct perpetrated against a different victim.

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Missouri Man Sentenced For Embezzling Nearly $3 Million In Payroll Scheme

From eMissourian.com on 1/10/2015:

A Franklin County man who formerly operated a payroll services company in St. Louis County has been sentenced to more than four years in prison and ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution for stealing from clients.

Bradley Ferguson, 48, Washington, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber to 54 months in prison on federal mail fraud and money laundering charges. He pleaded guilty in August to the two felony charges in the case.

Defendants in federal criminal cases typically serve 85 percent of their sentence.

Judge Webber also ordered Ferguson to pay $3,067,137 in restitution to former clients, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Ferguson was facing a maximum 20-year sentence for mail fraud and five years for money laundering.

Ferguson owned Fenton-based Paymaster Business Solutions Inc. He is accused of withdrawing money from the bank accounts of business clients to pay federal, state and local taxes but did not make the payments.

He then withdrew more than $2.7 million from client accounts in 2013 in an attempt to cover the tax payments after IRS inquiries.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Ferguson’s clients included churches, youth organizations, child daycare facilities, law firms, and other businesses.

According to an indictment handed up by a federal grand jury, from January 2005 through January 2014, Ferguson drafted funds directly from Paymaster business clients’ bank accounts in order to pay their federal, state, and local tax liabilities. However, Paymaster, at Ferguson’s direction, failed to forward the Paymaster business clients’ funds to the taxing authorities in order to pay their tax liabilities.

Paymaster drafted in excess of $2,700,000 from Paymaster business clients’ bank accounts to pay clients’ federal, state, and local tax liabilities, as well as FICA liabilities, for the period July 2013 through December 2013, but were not forwarded to the proper taxing authorities, the indictment alleged.

Additionally, the indictment alleged that Ferguson, as power of attorney for Paymaster business clients, was contacted directly by the IRS and questioned as to the failure to pay clients’ federal tax liabilities. Ferguson did not tell his clients about the IRS inquiries. When clients occasionally learned that Paymaster had not forwarded their funds to the taxing authorities, Ferguson lied to them and told them Paymaster had made the payments, according to the indictment.

Finally, the indictment states that in December 2013, Ferguson retained the services of a commercial shredding company and directed that the Paymaster business client records be shredded and removed from the Paymaster offices.

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Former Marketing Director Of Security Software Company Pleads Guilty To Embezzling More Than $1 Million

From SFGate.com on 12/17/2014:

A former marketing director for antivirus software maker Symantec has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1 million to fund a lifestyle that included vacations in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Florida, authorities said Wednesday.

Lena “Mickey” Jacobs Coombs, 48, of Highland, Utah, entered her plea Tuesday to a single count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in San Jose. She had originally been indicted on 26 counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of money laundering. She will be sentenced April 1 by Judge Lucy Koh.
Investigators said she stole from the Mountain View company from 2010 to 2012.

She was fired two years ago from her position in Lindon, Utah, a Symantec spokesman has said.
Authorities said Coombs used American Express cards issued by Symantec to pay for personal expenses, including car payments, home remodeling, concerts, child care and a trip to the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

She used company credit cards at hotels in Waikiki Beach and Kapalua, Hawaii; Las Vegas; and at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the indictment said.

She was able to steal the funds by creating a company in Utah called Dart Marketing and Events and falsely claiming that the company had completed marketing activities on Symantec's behalf, authorities said.

She hid her connection to Dart Marketing and falsely told co-workers that another person ran that firm, authorities said.

Former Apple Exec Sentenced To 1 Year For Embezzling $2.4 Million In Kickback Scheme

From the Imperial Valley News on 12/6/2014:

San Jose, California - Paul S. Devine was sentenced on December 1, 2014, to 12 months and one day in prison, and ordered to pay $4,464,664 in restitution for wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and engaging in transactions in criminally-derived property, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Acting Special Agent in Charge Thomas McMahon.

According to the plea agreement, Devine admitted that, beginning in approximately February 2007, he engaged in a scheme to defraud Apple of money or property as well as to defraud Apple of its right to his honest services. He also admitted to engaging in a conspiracy with co-defendant Andrew Ang in which they agreed to the fraud against Apple.

Devine had been a Global Supply Manager at Apple from 2005 until he was terminated at the time of his arrest in August 2010. Devine’s job gave him access to confidential internal Apple information. In the course of the scheme, Devine transmitted confidential information, such as product forecasts, pricing targets, and product specifications, to suppliers and manufacturers of Apple parts, including Ang. Ang worked for several Apple suppliers located in Singapore. In return, the suppliers and manufacturers paid Devine kickbacks, including payments determined as a percentage of their Apple contracts. Devine shared the kickbacks with Ang.

In his plea agreement, Devine acknowledged that this scheme deprived Apple of its property right in the confidentiality of its information, its money, and its property, as well as its right to his honest services. The scheme enabled the suppliers and manufacturers to, among other things, negotiate more favorable contracts with Apple than they would have been able to obtain without the confidential information.

Devine admitted to receiving kickbacks as wire transfers into bank accounts that he opened for that purpose in the U.S. and South Korea, including accounts in the name of a shell corporation, “CPK Engineering.”

Devine also admitted that he knowingly transferred the proceeds of the wire fraud between his various accounts, including CPK Engineering accounts, in order to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds. He specifically admitted to a May 18, 2010, transfer of $536,748.88 in funds derived from the wire fraud scheme.

Devine agreed that the loss attributable to the fraudulent scheme was approximately $2,409,000, which represented the amount he received in kickback payments. He agreed to forfeit $951,552 in proceeds of the fraud and a vehicle, all of which were seized by the FBI and IRS at the time of his arrest. Devine also agreed to forfeit $612,407 in proceeds of the fraud, which he transferred from overseas bank accounts and deposited with the clerk of the District Court following his arrest.

Devine, 41, of Sunnyvale, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 11, 2014. The indictment charged him with twenty-three counts related to engaging in the wire fraud scheme, conspiring to commit wire fraud with Andrew Ang, laundering the proceeds of the scheme, and engaging in transactions in funds derived from the scheme.

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Fraud Talk Radio Program To Discuss Money Laundering, FCPA & International Fraud Issues

Join Chris Marquet this Monday morning at 10 EST for a new edition of FraudTalk on the Voice America radio network.  This week's program will focus on international fraud issues including Money Laundering, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Bribery, Kickbacks, Government Corruption and more with guest Billy Marlin, CFE.   Billy is a forensic accountant by training and CFE and a recognized expert in investigations related to money laundering, bribery, kickbacks and public corruption.  Listen live or at your leisure on the Voice America business channel here.

Wisconsin Attorney Indicted On Charges He Embezzled $2.2 Million From Clients

From the Star Tribune on 12/4/2014:

MILWAUKEE — A federal grand jury has indicted a Milwaukee-area attorney on 33 counts related to fraud and money laundering from clients.

A U.S. attorney said Wednesday that Sarah Laux of Mequon is charged with crimes including 20 counts of money laundering and nine counts of wire fraud. Authorities say she defrauded $2.2 million from four clients between 2010 and 2012, including the heirs of an early 20th century Milwaukee industrial leader.

State insurance regulators revoked Laux's insurance license in fall 2013.

Laux faces up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years on supervised release if she is convicted of bank fraud. Mail or wire fraud convictions would carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

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Former Delaware Bank CEO Sentenced In $1.5 Million Fraud Case

From the News Journal on 11/25/2014:

A former bank chief executive was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for a scheme involving the use of his bank's money to pay personal debts.

James A. Ladio, 58, who founded and headed MidCoast Community Bank in Wilmington, received what some considered a stiff sentence, considering his substantial cooperation into the federal investigation of Wilmington Trust Co.

Ladio pleaded guilty last year to two counts of bank fraud and two counts of money laundering. He had asked U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews for home detention or community confinement. Instead, Ladio will report to prison on Jan. 9.

"This is a tough day for me," said Ladio, who seemed more self-assured than he did at his plea hearing last year. "I will never, ever be able to accept the actions I did. Remorse is something that eats you from inside."

Ladio said he had gotten himself into "desperate financial circumstances" following years of mounting debt that began with a divorce. In a letter to the judge, Ladio said the debt was always manageable until he invested beyond his means in the start-up of MidCoast. When the recession hit, he was forced to borrow more money to meet his loan obligations, he said.

Unable to pay the loans he owed Wilmington Trust, Ladio convinced two MidCoast customers to withdraw loan proceeds from the bank and turn the money over to him as private loans, prosecutors say. He then used the private loan money to pay off his obligations at Wilmington Trust.

The "agonizing" reflection Ladio did over the last year resulted in the decision to make amends, he told Andrews. That meant cooperating with the government in its Wilmington Trust probe and starting a business that would allow him to repay his debts.

"During this time, I decided to move forward – I willed myself," Ladio said.

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Massachusetts Woman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling From Retirement Community

From The Republican on 11/19/2014:

The former manager of an East Longmeadow retirement community is under federal indictment for allegedly embezzling funds from the facility.

Alice Lacroix, 53, formerly of East Longmeadow, was arrested in Virginia and charged with eight counts of wire fraud, eight counts of money laundering, and two counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that Lacroix, a former manager of Bluebird Estates, a retirement living community off Parker Street, embezzled funds from her employer by stealing rent checks paid by tenants, as well as other checks and property belonging to her employer.

Authorities say Lacroix established a bank account in the name of Bluebird Estates and deposited the stolen funds into that account. Lacroix then engaged in financial transactions designed to disguise the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme, according to prosecutors.

Lacroix deceived her employer through emails containing false information about the stolen rent payments, then "aided and abetted in the filing of false income tax returns," prosecutors said.

Authorities did not indicate how long Lacroix had managed Bluebird Estates, or how much money she allegedly took during her tenure at the facility.

If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison, hefty fines and other penalties.

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Note: We assume that although no amount has yet been disclosed, this case involves more than $100,000 since it is being prosecuted on a federal basis.

Former Finance Director Arrested For Embezzling $8.5 Million From Gulfstream Aerospace

From the Associated Press:

A former finance director with Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. was arrested late last week in California and charged with stealing at least $8.5 million from Gulfstream’s Long Beach and Las Vegas operations.

Marvin Jay Caukin of Calabasas was held without bail after his initial appearance in U.S. District Court Friday on charges of identity theft and conspiracy to launder money and commit mail fraud, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

In court papers, FBI Special Agent Sherine Ebadi said Caukin, 66, was employed as finance director of Gulfstream’s Long Beach and Las Vegas operations between 2001 and 2013 when he orchestrated a sophisticated embezzlement scheme using friends and relatives to set up phony businesses — with familiar-sounding names like Jetco Aviation Services — to bill the company for services never provided.

Caukin allegedly approved payments to the bogus companies and the proceeds were then funneled back to him and a number of co-conspirators. As of Tuesday, the co-conspirators had not been charged.

Caukin, who did not enter a plea in his Friday court appearance, goes back to court on Monday for a bail hearing.

His lawyer had no comment.

A spokeswoman for Savannah-based Gulfstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, said Tuesday the company had no comment.

According to Beatriz Valenzuela of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, federal investigators were made aware of the situation shortly after Gulfstream began looking into financial irregularities at the offices Caukin supervised. The company fired him in May 2013 when it learned he had lied on his initial application in 2000, indicating he had not been convicted of a felony within the last seven years.
Caukin had, in fact, spent nearly three years in federal prison in the mid 1990s for embezzling $2.4 million from USA Petroleum Corp., where he was finance director. He pleaded guilty in that case to wire fraud.

According to court documents, Caukin applied for the Gulfstream job only four months after he was released from prison for a parole violation.

Investigators say Caukin spent the money he embezzled from Gulfstream on two houses, including a $2 million Calabasas residence that he purchased with cash; fancy cars, pricey restaurants, five-star hotels, expensive jewelry and luxury furnishings as well as mundane expenses such as insurance premiums, utilities and other living expenses.

Eimiller said investigators with the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service searched Caukin’s two homes Friday and recovered several thousand dollars in cash from his Mercedes Benz.
Two of the co-conspirators, including his 46-year-old son, were unindicted accomplices in Caukin’s previous scheme, according to Ebadi.

The Associated Press reported that another co-conspirator, who was authorized to handle bank accounts for phony companies and rented mail boxes where checks from Gulfstream were sent, is believed to run an Orange County escort service that was paid more than $55,000 between 2001 and 2012 for catering and support at such events as the Gulfstream company Christmas party.

Those events did not take place, and Gulfstream never hired the company, according to documents.

California Man Charged With Embezzling $300K In Vendor Fraud Scheme

From the Associated Press on 11/6/2014:

A former Fresno business executive has been charged with embezzling nearly $300K from a local business.

Anthony Lester, 51, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of mail fraud and money laundering. Lester was the former controller at Century Builders in Fresno, and later chief financial officer. During his employment, he also had access to the financial accounts of another Fresno business, Highlands Energy Services.

Lester is accused of diverting money from bank accounts and credit cards held by Highlands Energy Services into other financial accounts, including his own PayPal account, according to the U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.

He is accused of embezzling about $300,000 from Highlands Energy Services.

According to the indictment, employees of the two companies questioned Lester about suspect payments to some vendors, including one called American Products, which was later found to be a fake company Lester invented to conceal the embezzlement, according to Wagner.

In fact, Lester attempted to make it appear American Products was a real company, according to Wagner, first visiting a local supply company near Fresno claiming to be from "Valley Builders," another fictitious company. Then he purchased weather stripping, dead bolts, spring hinges and thresholds, packaging the goods for delivery to Hilghlands and labeling them as coming from American Products in New York.

Lester is accused of sending the goods from a Fresno UPS facility.

The mail fraud charge could carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
The money laundering charge could carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, the larger of a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved and three years of supervised release.

Former Manager of Rhode Island Insurance Company Charged With Embezzling $2.7 Million

From the Dispatch-Argus on 10/28/2014:

A former Rock Island insurance company manager has been federally indicted on fraud and money laundering charges totaling $2.7 million.

Dominic Giovanni Scodeller, 47, of Davenport, was arrested and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, on Tuesday, the same day federal records in the case were unsealed. Currently in the custody of federal marshals, he has a detention hearing scheduled this morning before Judge Sara Darrow.

On Oct. 21, a grand jury indicted Mr. Scodeller on 15 counts of fraud by radio, wire or television; money laundering; concealment; and mail fraud.

Mr. Scodeller was manager of purchasing and facilities for Bituminous Insurance Companies headquartered in Rock Island. He authorized BITCO payments to lessors for branch offices throughout the U.S., as well as for upgrades and construction work to its facilities, the indictment states.

Prosecutors allege that, from 2001 through May 2013, Mr. Scodeller developed a plan to defraud BITCO that started before he even was hired with lies about his academic record and lack of a criminal history during his job interview.

The indictment states that, once hired, Mr. Scodeller created "bogus entities" for fake corporations and bribed vendors and suppliers to pay him unauthorized kickbacks in exchange for BITCO business.

Mr. Scodeller allegedly set up mailing addresses and bank accounts for fake corporations -- such as "North Shores Group Properties," "Agility Business Resumption," "Secure Business Systems" and "AmyLyn Properties" -- that purportedly provided facilities and services to  BITCO. He is accused of using the nonexistent entities as false fronts to bill BITCO for facilities and services while disguising his control and interest in the entities.

To convince BITCO the entities were real, Mr. Scodeller allegedly submitted bills for services he claimed the entities provided, then would sign off on the bills and pocket the funds.
With legitimate firms that provided services, Mr. Scodeller allegedly would bill BITCO for an inflated amount under the name of a bogus entity and keep the difference.

The indictment also says Mr. Scodeller engaged in monetary transactions of more than $10,000 "involving property derived from the scheme to defraud BITCO."

After an internal investigation, BITCO turned the matter over to FBI and IRS criminal investigations.
Each count of mail or wire fraud has a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The money laundering counts are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of property involved in the transactions, whichever amount is greater.

Missouri Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzling Nearly $5 Million From Leasing Concern; Was Company Controller; Gambling Blamed

From Kansas City infoZine on 3/1/14:

A Neosho, Missouri man pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing more than $4.9 million from his employer.
 

Springfield, MO - infoZine - David VanWinkle, 60, of Neosho, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to wire fraud, money laundering, and failure to pay taxes.

VanWinkle was the comptroller for Frontier Leasing Incorporated (FLI) in Joplin, Missouri. By pleading guilty today, VanWinkle admitted that he stole $4,911,621 from FLI between June 2008 and December 2013, which he spent on personal expenses and gambling.

Based on a report from a financial institution, federal agents began investigating unusual deposits VanWinkle made into his business accounts for two businesses, VanWinkle Accounting and VanWinkle Farms.

VanWinkle, acting as the comptroller for FLI, received payments from FLI’s customers in the form of checks. VanWinkle deposited some of those checks into FLI’s legitimate business accounts but deposited other checks into another checking account under the name of FLI that VanWinkle had opened at another bank. VanWinkle was the sole person on this secret account; no one else was aware that FLI had the account and VanWinkle was not authorized to open an account or deposit any of FLI’s customer payment checks into the account.
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Virginia Woman Pleads Guilty To Charges She Embezzled $1 Million From Local Company

From the Fluvanna Review on 2/27/14:

A Fluvanna woman charged with embezzling more than $1 million from the Fork Union-based National Filter Service, pleaded guilty today (Feb. 27) in Fluvanna County Circuit Court to 20 felony counts, according to Fluvanna County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeff Haislip.

Brenda van Emmenis, formerly Brenda Rigsby, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of embezzlement and seven counts of conducting unlawful money transactions, the statute that deals with money laundering.

She was remanded to jail to await sentencing.

Former County Treasurer In Virginia Awaits Sentencing For Embezzling $124K

From the News & Advance on 2/24/14:

Amherst County is attempting to recoup financial losses accrued from the past embezzlement of county money from the treasurer’s office.

In August, Assistant County Administrator David Proffitt filed a claim to the Virginia Department of the Treasury’s Division of Risk Management for the amount of $124,151.73 to recover losses the county incurred during the tenure of former treasurer Evelyn Martin.
Martin awaits sentencing in April after pleading guilty in January to embezzlement and money laundering of more than $32,000. The conclusion of the court case will mark the point at which the county could receive reimbursement, if officials can prove the financial losses.  An investigation concluded that Martin, who was elected to the treasurer’s post in 2009 after serving in the office as deputy treasurer, conducted more than $32,000 in transactions that were unaccounted for during two periods of time that ended in 2011. According to a 2012 turnover audit released after current treasurer Garry Friend assumed office, more than $60,000 in unreconciled, and at times, unidentified funds existed in the office as of Dec. 31, 2011.

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Virginia Woman & Former Bookkeeper Sentenced To 3 Years For Embezzling $110K

From the News & Advance on 2/18/14:

A Lynchburg woman convicted of stealing more than $100,000 from a Bedford business will serve three years in prison and is ordered to pay the money back, an uphill task she said in court Tuesday she will do anything to fulfill.

Vickie Elkins McPhearson, former bookkeeper of Witt Mechanical, pleaded guilty in November to three counts of embezzlement and three counts of money laundering. While taking the witness stand on her own behalf Tuesday in a Bedford County Circuit Court hearing, McPhearson said she has asked God and her family to forgive her, and seeks forgiveness from Jeff Witt, her former employer.

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