Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $1.25 Million From Consulting Firm

From WBOC 16 on 10/29/2014:

A Caroline County woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to steal over $1.2 million from a consulting company, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced the plea agreement Wednesday for 45-year-old Janice McCumbie, of Marydel, Md.

According to her plea agreement, McCumbie worked for a global consulting business that served clients in various industries and had offices in Maryland and elsewhere. Clients paid large retainers to secure consulting services.  The plea agreement states, the consulting company would issue refund checks to the clients in certain circumstances, including when a client's retainer exceeded the amount of work that the consulting company actually performed or when the client made duplicate payments to the consulting company. McCumbie's duties included coordinating client refunds.   

Between June and December 2008, the plea agreement states McCumbie caused the consulting company to issue six fraudulent refund checks totaling $121,081.22 to a co-conspirator in exchange for a share of the check proceeds.

From February 2009 to October 2013, the plea agreement states McCumbie caused the consulting company to issue 42 false refund checks totaling $910,490.74 to defendant Leonard Smedley in exchange for a share of the check proceeds.  Similarly, from October 2010 to November 2013, McCumbie caused the consulting company to issue 17 false refund checks totaling $217,695.57 to her niece, defendant Amber Gayleard, who cashed the checks and shared the proceeds with McCumbie. Smedley and Gayleard were not clients of the consulting company.

Rosenstein says McCumbie has agreed to forfeit and pay restitution of $1,249,267.53, the loss resulting from her conduct.

McCumbie faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel scheduled her sentencing for January 27, 2015, at 9:30 a.m.


Note: My own research suggests that McCumbie's employer was FTI Consulting - the global finance and forensic accounting firm.