A benefits specialist for the CTA is facing federal fraud and embezzlement charges related to the withdrawal of $350,000 worth of pension benefits related to deceased employees. She has since been charged with five counts of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison,…
A man has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison after eight years as a fugitive in Utah. The man was charged in connection with the theft of over $2.2 million from his employer when he worked as a bookkeeper. The defendant was responsible for paying invoices to vendors,…
A Texas woman is being charged with felony embezzlement after returning a VHS tape of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 20 years after its due date. The woman told authorities that she had never rented the tape, but at the time, she was seeing a young man with two young daughters.…
More defendants have been added to an ongoing prosecution in which several key stakeholders managed to tank a Chicago bank by embezzling millions in funds. The Washington Federal Bank for Savings failed in 2017 after the Office of the Comptroller determined that the bank was insolvent. Four new defendants have…
For as many government entitlement programs as there are, there are a number of ways to commit fraud. People commit fraud against the unemployment program, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, social security, and more. Aldermen commit fraud against government initiatives and then funnel the money to their own personal coffers. Now,…
This is America, where everyone has a job and everyone has a dream. The idea is to work the job until you can make the dream come true. That happened for one Illinois woman, but federal prosecutors say that the money she used to fund her dream was embezzled from…
State Senator Tom Cullerton is now facing federal charges that embezzled funds from the Teamsters. Federal authorities are accusing Cullerton of collecting a nearly $190,000 salary plus bonuses for vehicle and cellphone usage. He is also said to have taken $64,000 in health and pension contributions while doing apparently nothing…
Two Chicago police officers, Sgt. Xavier Elizondo and David Salgado, are facing federal charges for obstruction of justice, lying on affidavits, and lying to the FBI. The two allegedly falsified information on search warrant petitions to judges to execute no-knock warrants in Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods. They are also accused…
Whenever another story comes in, there is shock from the legal and non-legal community. Even as the defendant desperately seeks an attorney; the prosecutor is working full-time to ensure a conviction and an exemplary sentence. The annals of embezzlement in Chicago include the relatively recent case of Caryn Benson, a…
Embezzlement is a so-called “white collar crime” in Illinois, meaning it is the type of crime normally committed in a professional environment or workplace. Embezzlement is a type of theft that occurs when somebody who was entrusted to manage or monitor the property or money of another person steals all…