Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"Museum staff have stated that they have tightened their payroll management system to prevent this type of crime from happening in the future"

A former payroll manager at the Brooklyn Museum (mentioned earlier here) has plead guilty to charges of embezzling more than $620,000 by making payments to phantom employees: "According to an affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Newton’s scam began in 2005 when he created a profile for a fictitious employee known as 'Brooklyn Museum' or 'Brooklyn.' From that time until July 2008, he allegedly issued 138 fictitious payroll checks, most of which were deposited into bank accounts that he controlled, including a joint bank account with his wife. Some of the checks issued in 2008, the affidavit says, were made payable to another fictitious employee known as 'ZYX.'"