Fraud Friday — Former Office Manager Defrauds Employer

October 16, 2020

Caity Roach
Contributing Editor

Fraud Friday — Former Office Manager Defrauds Employer

Richard Walker, a former part-time office manager of an Orlando based business, has been sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison for embezzling and diverting over $900,000 to himself and his two businesses, RBD Distributors LLC and Shotgun Shooting Supply LLC.

According to court documents, from January 2014 to July 3, 2018, Walker used his employer’s business’s bank account, without authorization, to write approximately $751,824 in checks to himself and his two companies. In total, Walker wrote over 500 checks, ranging from $145.89 to $16,981.03, each of which included the forged signature of the owner of the business. Then, from March 19, 2018, to July 3, 2018, Walker used his employer’s personal and corporate credit cards to charge $301,328.65 in fraudulent transactions.

To conceal his theft, Walker changed the address for his employer’s Bank of America credit card statements so that they would be sent to one of his relatives rather than his employer. He then added himself as “treasurer” of his employer’s company on a filing submitted to the Florida Secretary of State and changed the contact information on his employer’s American Express account.

Walker pleaded guilty on June 23, 2020, and was sentenced on October 13, 2020. After deducting the amounts returned by Walker during his scheme and the reversal of some of the unauthorized credit card charges, the judge ordered Walker to pay $790,600 in restitution and issued an $839,305.30 forfeiture order. Walker will serve 5 years and 5 months in federal prison without the option of parole.

Sources:
Department of Justice
Indictment