Office Assistant Stole HOW MUCH?

Fraud Alert posted here a link to a press release of the USA for the District of Columbia that reports that a "former office assistant  pleads guilty to stealing $1.35 million from her employer."  According to the press release, "between January 1999 and October 2004, [this individual], who was then an office assistant for [ ] a Washington, D.C. based real estate management company, stole funds from her employer's bank accounts by issuing $1,354,376 in checks made payable to [her] or her creditors. To conceal her activities, [she] omitted material information from [the real estate companies] accounting records and removed cancelled checks from [their] monthly bank statements."

The government has been very focused on compliance programs for the larger businesses.  This case tells the story of why all companies need to have fraud-detection controls in place. How one person could steal 1.35 million over a five year period, without anybody realizing anything, is truly amazing.

(esp)