A woman who once served as the former operations manager for an insurance broker in San Diego, CA has admitted to defrauding her employer out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Antonia Barber, 51, pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal wire fraud charges for defrauding the broker of about $726,000. According to the US Attorney’s Office, she admitted to writing “hundreds” of fraudulent company checks to herself and a relative over a seven-year period.
Prosecutors said that Barber abused her authority to approve expense reimbursement requests, since her role as operations manager gave her “significant discretion over the finances of the company.”
The US Attorney’s Office also noted that Barber wrote checks to a relative for “records management” services that were never provided, as well as checks to herself for reimbursement of expenses that she never incurred.
“Stealing from your employer, whether done in a subtle manner over a period of years or a brazen way, results in a negative hit to the bottom line that impacts competitiveness. It will not be tolerated,” US Attorney Robert Brewer said in a statement.
FOX 5 News reported that Barber is set to be sentenced on December 09, 2019.
