Posted by Ahmed Alhadaith.
Embezzlement is an illegal activity which several business owners have found themselves in over the years. One of the most recent cases in the United States involved one Jonathan Todd. He was an entertainment manager and through his dealings; he allegedly embezzled funds from some of his clients. Some of the clients sued him in a civil court and on January 18th 2017; he accepted that he had embezzled funds amounting to more than 6.5 million. He had done this by taking “Clients money for himself and Falsifying Account records to conceal the embezzlement.”
In the case, the judge sentenced him to six years in prison ruling that his actions were plainly “insidious’, ‘audacious’ and they brought about ‘grave economic and psychological harm to his victims’” (Robb, 2017). From the case, Schwartz had stolen money from multiple clients. In one instance, he had said that. His admission to the claims levied against him brought him to the seven year sentence. However, he agreed that he had made the mistake and took full liability for his actions.
In his actions, he had broken the law and hence met the full force of the law. In another article on the same site, the judge said that money managers hand responsibilities, both moral and fiduciary, to preserve the assets of their clients without using the money for their own gain. On top of this, He had evaded taxes by filing false tax returns for the year 2012 ,and the Judge noted that he would face ‘serious consequences’ as a result. His case was taken especially to serve as a lesson to other financial professionals and deter them from engaging in fraudulent activities as he had (Robb, 2017). Through these articles, the Deadline Blog sheds light into Business Forensics accounting and the application of commercial law in indictment of embezzlers and fraudsters.
Ahmed is a graduate student at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.
References:
Robb, Davi. Alanis Morissette’s Business Manager Sentenced To Six Years In Prison After Stealing $7 Million. 04 May 2017. .
Robb, David. Manager Admits He Embezzled $4.8M From Alanis Morissette. 18 January 2017. .