Former Union Officer Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement Scheme That Generated More Than $500,000
A former union officer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to steal more than $500,000 from the labor organization, using the money for parties, trips, furniture, and other personal expenses.
Attia Little, 43, of Temple Hills, Maryland, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy and one count of theft from a labor organization. She is to be sentenced on Nov. 4, 2022, by the Honorable Amit P. Mehta. Under federal sentencing, she faces a likely range of 30 to 37 months in prison and potential financial penalties. The plea agreement calls for Little to pay restitution.
Former Firector of Accounting and Human Resources Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement
The former director of accounting and human resources for a kitchen remodeling firm in Westchester County and Greenwich, Connecticut has pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud in connection with her embezzlement of more than $630,000 from her former employer, federal officials announced.
Starting in November of 2019, she made hundreds of unauthorized charges amounting to more than $175,000 on company credit cards for personal expenses, including jewelry, beauty treatments, laser treatments, travel, lets, cosmetic surgery, clothing and cars, including a partial payment on a $100,000 Corvette.
Employee Embezzled $685,000 from Modesto Business through Amazon, Costco, Other Orders
The office of Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced the June 15 conviction of Manteca resident Julia Ann Smith. Smith pleaded either no contest or guilty to four felony charges and was sentenced to serve three years and eight months in state prison, according to a news release. Smith worked as a bookkeeper for Modesto Sand & Gravel and was charged with embezzling $685,413.08 from her company and its president, Matthew Kellstrom, by altering digital financial files. According to the DA’s Office, her embezzlement was discovered by a technician who had been called to fix a computer at the business.
Petaluma Woman Sentenced to 29 months for Bank Fraud, Embezzlement, Tax Evasion
Stephanie Simontacchi, 48, is accused of embezzling at least $821,363 through her roles as an accountant at two North Bay firms — the Cavallo Point Lodge and Redwood Credit Union, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Simontacchi admitted, prosecutors said, to taking at least $384,363 in accounts payable and receivable checks from the Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito where she worked as accountant between October 2012 and March 2016. By using her signature authority, she deposited 81 of those checks in her personal bank accounts, federal authorities contend.
Two Individuals Convicted in $1.4 Billion Health Care Fraud Scheme Involving Rural Hospitals in Florida, Georgia, and Missouri
The evidence showed that the defendants targeted and obtained control of financially distressed rural hospitals through management agreements and purchases. The defendants sought to obtain control of these rural hospitals because of private insurance contracts that provided for higher reimbursement rates for laboratory testing — a common feature of rural hospital contracts designed to ensure that the hospitals can survive and provide rural communities with much needed care. The defendants promised to save these rural hospitals from closure by turning them into laboratory testing sites, but instead billed for fraudulent laboratory testing worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a sophisticated and years-long “pass-though” billing scheme. The scheme made it appear that the rural hospitals themselves did the laboratory testing when, in most cases, it was done by testing laboratories controlled by certain defendants.
Former Manager of Guy Sebastian Found Guilty of Embezzlement
Almost two years to the day since he was arrested for the charges, Titus Day, the former manager of Guy Sebastian, has been found guilty of embezzling part of the singer’s earnings. As the ABC reports, the “long” and “complex” trial resulted in Day being found guilty of more than half of the 60-plus charges against him.
News of the legal battle first emerged back in August 2020, when Day was charged with fraud offences, having allegedly kept $1.15 million from the singer over a period of seven years (between December 2013 and April 2020). The pair’s professional relationship came to an end in 2017 after more than a decade of working together.