| #531 - January 4, 2008 |
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| #531 Updated: 1/4/08 9:20 a.m. Restitution ordered in embezzlement case petoskeynews.com | 1/3/08 | Benjamin Gohs Charlevoix CHARLEVOIX — Karla Sue Lockman, the Boyne City woman who embezzled at least $859,278.25 from Northern Preferred Title of Charlevoix, has been ordered to pay close to half of the amount she took from the business. Charlevoix County prosecuting attorney John Jarema said $364,204.21 including accumulated interest, has been recovered through the sale of Lockman’s ill-gotten assets, leaving a total of $459,074.04 that she owes. John Taylor, chief executive officer for Northern Preferred and one of the nearly 30 victims still owed money, said the judge’s order is far from a win. “I see it as closure,” he said. “It hasn’t been fun. What she (Lockman) did put me back to entry level position earning one-third of what I was earning.” Taylor, who has been in the business for 25 years and worked at Northern Preferred for nearly a decade, said his biggest gripe with the report is the court-appointed receiver Bob Hoffman CPA did not speak with Northern Preferred’s former employees or Taylor before setting the restitution amounts laid out in his report, and therefore may not have had enough information to submit an accurate report to the court. “Other than one letter to me indicating he was going to accept victim statements of restitution owed, he never contacted me,” Taylor said. “He never looked at the books of Northern Preferred Title, he never looked at the accounts Karla embezzled from.” He added, “My biggest issue is the way the funds are being distributed.” Hoffman did not return calls by press time. Taylor said 25 to 50 percent of his former employees are owed more than the blanket $2,000 amount which is set to be allocated to each employee regardless of their years of service or vacation and sick time owed them. (Excerpt) Minn-Dak Farmers Co-op reports embezzlement dl-online.com | 1/3/08 | Jon Knutson Authorities are investigating a report of embezzlement at Wahpeton, N.D.-based Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative. The company says it fired Colleen West, an accounting employee, on suspicion of embezzling company funds for her personal use. West admitted to the theft after the cooperative discovered the misappropriation of funds, according to a written statement released Wednesday by Minn-Dak. Local law enforcement was notified and is investigating, the company said. Richland County Sheriff Larry Leshovsky said the report from Minn-Dak indicates that more than $100,000 was embezzled over a period of several years. The investigation continues and charges could be filed in the next few days, he said. A phone listing for Colleen West couldn’t be found. Minn-Dak said it’s using an outside forensic accountant to assist with a full internal investigation. The cooperative’s financial integrity isn’t affected by the theft, and the cooperative is fully insured to cover any losses, said Susan Johnson, Minn-Dak communications manager. The company isn’t commenting further because of the ongoing investigation, she said. The sugar beet cooperative has 484 shareholder- growers, 285 year-round employees and 260 harvest employees. China Formula One boss jailed for embezzlement uk.reuters.com | 1/3/08 | Andrew Torchia SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A flamboyant sports entrepreneur who helped bring Formula One motor racing to China was sentenced to four years in jail on Thursday for embezzling 1.05 million yuan (73,000 pounds), the official Xinhua news agency said. Yu Zhifei, former general manager of Shanghai International Circuit Co, which hosts China's Formula One race, misappropriated the money from Shanghai Shenhua Football Club in the late 1990s to help pay for his purchase of a house, Xinhua reported. Yu, 54, is one of more than a dozen officials and businessmen who were detained in the wake of a scandal last year over embezzlement of Shanghai's social security funds. The furore led to the dismissal of the city's Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu. Yu moved from running a small manufacturing company to controlling the famed Shenhua football club before he took the motor racing job. He brought Manchester United to Shanghai to play against his club in 1999. The 177 million pound Shanghai race track, which can hold 200,000 people, hosted China's first Formula One Grand Prix in September 2004 and also holds world championship motorcycle races. Yu, who was tried in the city of Wuhu in east China's Anhui province, said he would consult with his lawyer on whether to appeal the verdict, Xinhua reported. Lapeer woman to stand trial in alleged embezzlement of tycoon blog.mlive.com | 1/3/08 | jforen A Lapeer woman will stand trial on six counts related to allegedly embezzling at least $600,000 using her age and beauty to take advantage of an aging and "vulnerable" multimillionaire. Defense attorney Tim Turkelson stood in District Judge John Connolly's courtroom today, making a last attempt to persuade the judge that the evidence against his client, Tina Ricotta, 46, of Hadley Township, was circumstantial at best. The prosecution and family members argued that Ricotta parlayed her age and relationship as a caregiver for 96- year-old H.R. "Kelly" Calamari, the founder of Eldorado Tire Co., into an opportunity to embezzle thousands from the tire mogul's checking account. Connolly said there was enough evidence to go to trial, including the defendant's age, along with items found in her home such as an expired driver's license belonging to Calamari, several blank checks from his account, and what looked to be a practice sheet for signing Calamari's name. Ricotta faces six criminal counts, including uttering and publishing, embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, and racketeering. Connolly postponed ruling on a seventh count of operating a drug house. Ex-UPS worker gets 7 years for embezzlement chicagotribune.com | 1/4/08 | Staff Writer A former United Parcel Service supervisor who stole more than $800,000 from the firm was sentenced Thursday to 7 years in prison. Victoria Pavek, 49, of Aurora pleaded guilty to theft of more than $500,000 in October. She was a 20-year employee of the shipping company who was working as a supervisor in the collections department in the Addison district office when the theft was discovered during an internal audit, said Assistant DuPage County State's Atty. William Wu. Pavek is believed to have used the funds to make personal purchases, including a condo for a member of her family and a car. "This was a betrayal of your employer and your family," Judge Kathryn Creswell told Pavek, who cried during sentencing. "This involves an amount so excessive, in a series of deceptions over six years and involving 90 separate transactions." Creswell ordered Pavek to appear in her courtroom after she is released from prison to determine how she will begin paying $801,841 in restitution. She also ordered Pavek to pay for UPS' internal investigation, up to $40,000. Wu told Creswell that Pavek had accessed the company's prepaid accounts and divertedfunds into her own bank accounts from 2000 to 2006. Pavek, who had been out of jail on an $800,000 bond, could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. She had no previous criminal record. ________________________ |