Damien Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Donna Murray was sentenced to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer for embezzling approximately $490,000 from her employer over a one-and-a-half year period. He announced that he had been sentenced. half.
“Donna Murray’s employer trusted her to protect their funds as director of finance, even as the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the nation’s economy,” said U.S. Attorney Damien Williams. , instead of protecting her employer, Ms. Murray betrayed its trust by siphoning nearly $500,000 from the organization’s bank account into her own pocket. Murray used her employer’s money to purchase luxury goods and other items. He even went so far as to falsify the organization’s general ledger to conceal his crimes from his employer and external auditors. Today’s ruling requires those entrusted with authority to take that trust personally. It sends a message that if you exploit it for profit, you will be caught and you will pay a high price.”
According to information and other filings and statements made in court:
From approximately December 2017 until his sudden resignation in approximately August 2022, Mr. Murray was employed as finance director for a nonprofit financial services trade association in Manhattan. With more than 600 organizational members, the organization is committed to advancing industry thought leadership, participating in industry advocacy, educating members and stakeholders, and establishing industry standards and best practices.
As Director of Finance, Mr. Murray is the only employee in the finance department and is responsible for maintaining the organization’s books, updating the general ledger, processing accounts receivable and payable, and providing the organization’s financial statements to external auditors. I owed it. Of the 14 to 16 employees of the organization during the period, Mr. Murray was the only employee with access to the organization’s online banking account and was also the only employee who could make wire transfers for the organization. there was.
From at least October 2019 to at least March 2021, Murray embezzled $488,177.24 from one of the organization’s bank accounts through 105 fraudulent wire transactions from the organization’s bank account to his personal bank account. , the amount increased over time. Murray used his knowledge of the external auditor’s practices and the organization’s vendors and vendor billing schemes to create false, but plausible-sounding entries in the general ledger in order to hide the fraud from the employer and its external auditor. created. Mr. Murray also transferred less than $10,000 of his money from his employer’s bank account to his own bank account, which may have triggered bank reporting requirements. Finally, Murray falsified bank statements submitted to the organization’s deputy general counsel to falsely reflect that the wire transfers were sent to the employer-funded health plan rather than to Murray.
After diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer’s bank account into his own bank account, Murray withdrew more than $400,000 in cash from his own bank account more than 347 times (sometimes multiple times a day) and stole it. The remaining funds were used for peer-to-peer funding. – Online money transfers, personal loan payments, peer consumer items and luxury goods such as designer apparel from Yves Saint Laurent and Michael Kors. Beauty, wellness and skin care products and services. Home Furniture and Decorations. Purchase online streaming and satellite radio. Over 180 Amazon orders. Items purchased at smoking areas. and a $200 cat treadmill.
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Murray, 38, of Staten Island, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release in addition to the prison term.
Mr. Williams praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s excellent investigative work.
The case is being prosecuted by the department’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Jerry J. Fang is in charge of the prosecution.
