Last week, prosecutors charged a trusted in-house accountant with stealing nearly $2 mill. from her employer over the last 7 years. Vedeyah Badal, 56, who had worked for Titan Industrial Services Inc, the Maspeth, Queens interior demolition company for 22 years, was accused of embezzlement, grand larceny and money laundering in a long-running scheme.
Prosecutors allege that the long-running scheme worked like this: Badal created fictitious employees, added them to the company payroll, would seemingly pay the employees on weekly basis, but in reality, the employees didn’t exist, and Badal was simply pocketing the wages of the fictitious employees. This went on from 2012 until she departed the company in 2019.
After Badal left the company, company leadership brought in forensic auditors to analyze books and records. Auditors found that Badal had needlessly remitted an additional $1 millon in taxes, Medicare and social security contributions to government agencies to give the appearance that the employees were legitimate.
Badal was a long-tenured and valued employee of the company. She had the trust of the owners and grossly violated that trust. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
As the saying goes, trust but verify. A periodic forensic checkup, and review of internal controls, even when employees are trusted members of the organization is a necessity.
According to the National White Collar Crime Center, nearly $400 bill. dollars are lost to embezzlement and internal theft each year.
Don’t be a victim. Contact us to find out how Integrity 1 Solutions can help protect what’s important to you.
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