Don’t Embezzle: You May Face Some Harsh Penalties

A legal secretary named Francine Fonger from Georgia has been accused of embezzling $830,000 from her boss, a retired partner.  She was accused of embezzling his funds from around 1999 to the end of 2010 and using his money to pay for her own expenses.  It’s hard to believe that someone could get away with fraud at this magnitude over such a long period of time.

Last week she was sentenced to about three years in federal prison.  She was also ordered to pay $ $832,890.35 in restitution.

What Is Embezzlement?

Embezzlement is the act of taking money that has been placed in your trust but belongs to someone else.  The alleged embezzler must have had lawful possession at time of the conversion.  So if Francine had lawful possession of the money at the time she used her boss’s money to pay her own bills, then she may be guilty of embezzling.  She likely had lawful possession of the money because she was hired to help the retired partner to pay his personal bills.

To learn more about embezzlement, click here.