Source: United States Department of Justice News
Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Theresea Walker (30, Fairburn, GA) to three years and six months in federal prison for wire fraud. She was also ordered to pay $1,757,082.73 in restitution and forfeited $934,885.65 that was seized by the FBI from various accounts held by her or in her control. Walker had pleaded guilty on March 29, 2022.
According to court documents, from at least October 2019 through May 21, 2021, Walker was employed as an accounts payable processor with a technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider headquartered in Melbourne, Florida. In this role, Walker’s responsibilities included accessing her employer’s payment software systems for the purpose of entering vendor and supplier invoices and scheduling those invoices for payment. Walker’s employer conducted an audit of accounts serviced by Walker and the audit revealed that Walker had made false entries into the employer’s accounts payable system to conduct nine wire transactions through which Walker caused the transfer of funds from the employer’s bank account to accounts controlled by Walker.
As part of her scheme, Walker also edited the payment terms and accounts of actual existing vendors with the employer, so that new invoices entered under that vendor name would be paid directly to the accounts designated by Walker. During the course of the scheme, in an attempt to hide her fraudulent activity, Walker created multiple fictitious invoices and fraudulent credit memos. In total, as a result of her scheme, Walker caused a total loss of $1,757,082.73 to the employer, which also represents the proceeds received by her from her scheme.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Terry B. Livanos. The forfeiture was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole Andrejko.