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The former executive assistant at a Waltham-based technology company was sentenced to four years in prison for a bank fraud and embezzlement scheme that netted over $3 million.
Shivani Patel, 38, of Vineyard Haven, received the sentence in Boston federal court on Jan. 28. In addition to the prison term, Patel was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $3.82 million and forfeiture of $3.08 million, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Patel pleaded guilty in October to one count each of bank fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns.
As an executive assistant to the chief financial officer, Patel’s duties included retrieving incoming mail containing customer checks made payable to her employer, recording the checks into the payment system and depositing the checks into her employer’s bank account.
From at least February 2012 through July 2017, Patel embezzled approximately $3,076,369 from her then employer for her personal use. Patel created a company in February 2012 with a name nearly identical to that of her then employer – using her employer’s name but just adding an “s” to the end – and opened a business banking account in the sham company’s name.
Patel then took customer checks payable to her employer from the mail, deposited those checks into the sham company’s bank account, and concealed her embezzlement by making false entries in her employer’s billing system, according to the statement. To disguise and conceal the nature of these funds, Patel funneled this money through multiple bank accounts.
In addition, Patel filed income tax returns for the tax years 2012 through 2016 in which she intentionally underreported her income by failing to disclose the money she had stolen from her employer.
