A federal court judge has sentenced a Washington woman to 16 months in prison for her role in a scheme to embezzle about USD 500,000 (EUR 385,068) from Trident Seafoods.
U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said Anne Wilson, 31, of Kent, Wash., was convicted of taking 28 fraudulent checks from the company totaling USD 289,660 (EUR 223,077). Wilson, a former employee of Trident, had been fired from the company but stayed in touch with Isairis Wolfe, who worked as bookkeeper for the company.
According to Loeffler, Wilson asked Wolfe for a loan of a few hundred dollars, and Wolfe instead invited Wilson to join a scheme to defraud Trident. Loeffler said Wilson took and cashed the 28 checks over a two-year period, made payable to herself and her son, a minor identified only as “L.E.” As part of the scheme, Wilson kept half the money from the cashed checks, and gave the rest to Wolfe.
According to Loeffler, Wolfe also wrote checks to three other people she knew personally, Jeremy Smith, Valerie Olivares and Jamie Fathke. In all, Loeffler said Wolfe wrote approximately 52 checks for approximately USD 500,000 (EUR 385,068) of Trident funds. Olivares and Smith are scheduled for sentencing on 4 June. Fathke was sentenced on 9 January to 4 months in jail. Wolfe is scheduled for sentencing on 22 May.
Loeffler said Wolfe used fraudulent accounting records to hide the payments. After Wolfe was fired from Trident for “performance-related reasons,” Loeffler said the company later discovered the scheme during an audit of its books.
