Source: United States Department of Justice News
BOSTON – A Northborough man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to wire fraud and money laundering charges after embezzling approximately $366,477 from a non-profit organization in Sturbridge.
Kyriakos Kapiris, a/k/a Rick Kapiris, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Oct. 14, 2022. Kapiris was indicted in October 2021.
From April 2015 to May 2020, Kapiris worked as the Information Technology Manager at a non-profit organization. As part of his responsibilities, the organization provided Kapiris access to two company credit cards to purchase equipment and services as needed. Beginning in 2016, Kapiris used the two company credit cards to purportedly purchase equipment from two vendor accounts on the web app Square and one account on Amazon. In reality, Kapiris created the three vendor accounts to embezzle the funds and fabricated sales invoices for purportedly purchased equipment to conceal the scheme. Kapiris used the names of legitimate Massachusetts companies for the two Square accounts and created the Amazon account in the name of a company that he controlled, “NetworkingPlus.”
Kapiris linked the three vendor accounts to several of his own personal accounts at Bank of America into which he transferred the fraudulent proceeds. Kapiris then used the stolen funds for personal expenses including a $19,250 payment to a home contractor.
The charges of wire fraud provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistance was provided by the Sturbridge and Northborough Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lucy Sun and Kristen Noto of Rollins’ Worcester Branch Office and Nicole Dapcic of Rollins’ Asset Recovery Unit are prosecuting the case.