The economy is terrible (had you heard about that?). And one consequence is that more people are either tempted by the immediate financial appeal of embezzlement, or they are pursued by desperate employers anxious to accuse employees of embezzlement to cover a business’s failure. Anyone facing an accusation of embezzlement should consider finding an experienced Atlanta embezzlement attorney. The stakes are very high in this type of “white collar crime” case.
Consider the California case of an accountant who embezzled $13.3 million from multiple victims. He was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
All of the embezzler’s assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, but U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia could not help but state that this would not begin to make the victims whole.
In a long hearing, many of the victims spoke up to the convicted embezzler, William Murray.
“That man ruined my life and should be charged with extreme financial elder abuse,” was one quote from a 78-year-old widow.
Mr. Murray was able to get his clients’ money because he told them to write checks to accounts under his control. He claimed that he was going to use the money to pay the clients’ taxes, or to make investments for them.
He changed the clients’ addresses to his own on tax returns, so that the clients would not receive letters from the IRS demanding payment of outstanding taxes.
In the meantime, Murray lived a lavish lifestyle.
Whenever one victim expressed concern about his finances, Murray would reply, “Don’t worry. Just let me do what I do best.” At the court hearing, the victim said, via a letter, “Well Bill, you did what you do best. You took our money.”
- Source: Sacramento Bee “Embezzler gets 19-plus years – and tongue-lashing from victims” May 29, 2010