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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Errol Andam, a former Nike marketing employee, was charged with embezzling $1.5 million from Nike over a two-year period before Nike’s internal investigators caught on to his scheme. Andam managed the operations and design of pop-up retail venues, which were located at sports competitions and many other events across the United States. Mr. Andam enlisted a friend to start a company, so that Andam could hire that company as an independent contractor to build out the pop-up venues. Andam then used that same friend’s credit card reader when making sales at pop-up events. The proceeds from those sales went to his friends’ company and eventually, back into Andam’s personal bank account. He now faces 30 years in prison and fines up to $4.5 million dollars.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 69% of embezzlement schemes last up to one year and many last three years or more before they are discovered. Just as the study finds, the Nike case lasted two years and resulted in a $1.5 million loss.

In the aftermath of an embezzlement case, businesses often scramble to reinforce internal controls to avoid repeating the same problems which is good, but businesses really need to make a long-term commitment to staying vigilant to protect assets and employing a robust system of checks and balances.

Remember, every company is different and protecting it is not a one size-fits-all proposition and even a sophisticated company like Nike can fall victim to internal fraud. Staying vigilant with effective internal controls that grow and evolve as the business does is one of the best ways to reduce fraud risk.

Contact us to find out how Integrity 1 Solutions can help protect what’s important to you.

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Tracii Show-Hutsona, 52, of Phoenix, Arizona allegedly used her position as Joumana Kidd’s personal assistant to funnel money from Kidd’s personal financial accounts, including her children’s college savings accounts, into her own to fund a lavish lifestyle, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Southern District of New York.

The criminal complaint says that Kidd hired Show-Hutsona in October 2015 to serve as a personal assistant at her home in California. At the time, Kidd agreed to pay Show-Hutsona’s company, Elite Luxury Lifestyles, a monthly fee for her services. As a personal assistant, Kidd afforded Show-Hutsona access to her financial information.

Three years later, in September 2018, Kidd’s financial advisor informed Kidd that she was spending significant amounts of money. Kidd confronted Show-Hutsona, who confessed to the theft and agreed to repay the nearly $310K that had been stolen up to that point.

But that didn’t stop Show-Hutsona who continued to defraud Kidd until 2019, when the theft ballooned to a whopping $1.4M.

The subsequent investigation revealed that Show-Hutsona had used the money for personal expenses, such as mobile phones, restaurants and nightclubs, luxury hotels, and jewelry.

According to prosecutors, Show-Hutsona faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for one count of wire fraud, and a mandatory two years in prison for one count of aggravated identity theft.

Would a Pre-Employment Background Screening Have Prevented the three-year fraud?

The answer is a resounding yes. Dubbed a “serial con artist” in the SDNY press release, a pre-employment background check would have immediately revealed that Show-Hutsona was convicted in 2008 in federal court for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the same charges she now faces.

As this case shows, professional pre-employment background screenings are an essential, economical, and effective way to protect yourself and your business from bad actors who prey upon trusting and unsuspecting victims. Contact us to find out how Integrity 1 Solutions can help protect what’s important to you. Email: [email protected] or call 212.229.0907.

Read more at: https://nypost.com/2021/02/19/guru-stole-more-than-1m-from-moms-college-funds-for-her-kids-feds-say/

This week, in part 2, of An Embezzler and a Forensic Accountant, Sarah shares what 23 years of forensic accounting experience has taught her about people like Barry, the commonalties of complex financial schemes, tips on how to spot the warning signs of fraud and some simple techniques to minimize fraud risks. But perhaps most importantly, she explains what to do if you suspect fraud in your company.

Listen https://anchor.fm/investigationinsiders/episodes/An-Embezzler-and-a-Forensic-Accountant—Part-2-eo4jg2 , subscribe, leave a comment, and share your ideas for future episodes of Investigation Insiders.

Andrew Charles Gemberling, a former assistant manager at Country Cupboard Inn Best Western, was charged with making $56,000 worth of fraudulent transactions using a company credit card to buy goods, then return the items for cash. He also admitted to helping himself to approximately $30,000 from the cash register. The scheme went on from August 2016 to December 2020, when the credit card company tipped off his employer to the suspicious transactions.

What is unique about the County Cupboard case? Turns out, not much. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, on average, fraud schemes last fourteen months and, like Mr. Gemberling, it was uncovered by a tip which is the way it goes 43% of the time.

In the aftermath of a fraud event, many businesses scramble to bolster internal controls and segregate duties to avoid repeat events. That’s a good thing. However, what’s really needed is a long-term commitment to being vigilant about protecting assets.

Security cameras trained on the cash register are only a good deterrent if somebody is reviewing the receipts to assess whether something untoward is occurring. Otherwise, it is unlikely anyone has the time or desire to review hours and hours of the camera footage and a crooked employee probably knows that.

Staying vigilant with effective internal controls that grow and evolve as the business does is one of the best ways to reduce fraud risk. Remember, every company is different and protecting it isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition.

Contact us to find out how Integrity 1 Solutions can help protect what’s important to you.

[email protected]

212.229.0907

This week, Sarah Nasir, CEO and managing partner of the forensic accounting firm, Integrity One Solutions, joins the Investigation Insiders podcast as they bring you the first of a two-part series that takes the listener on a journey inside the world of embezzlement. Hear first-hand how Barry Webne, a two-time convicted felon, stole over $2 million from his employers. Barry shares the embezzler mindset, the techniques he used to avoid scrutiny, how he was eventually caught, and the steep price he paid for his crimes.

Presented from two unique, but intertwined perspectives, this two-part series, is as informative and engrossing as it is cautionary about the horrors businesses face when simply relying on the honesty and good nature of their employees.

Listen https://anchor.fm/investigationinsiders/episodes/An-Embezzler-and-a-Forensic-Accountant—Part-1-ent69o, subscribe, leave a comment, and share your ideas for future episodes of Investigation Insiders.