A Sudbury bookkeeper has admitted to a hefty swindle, pleading guilty to charges of bank fraud for embezzling over $180,000 from a Lexington interior design firm.
51-year-old Christina Iannelli is now on the hook after a courtroom admission on Friday, pleading guilty to seven counts of bank fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton set the sentencing for March 14, 2024, with Iannelli facing a potential 30-year prison term, an echo of her March 2022 arrest and charges.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Iannelli abused her position as an independent contractor, fabricating dozens of fraudulent invoices starting in October 2018. She helped herself to inflated compensation checks and later, in July 2019, penned a series of unauthorized checks too, using the signature stamp of the firm's owner to execute her scheme.
The ex-bookkeeper further covered her tracks with deceitful accounting records, with the damage totaling upwards of $30,000 through the padded checks and an excess of $150,000 via unauthorized withdrawals. This orchestration of deceit inevitably came to light, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the FBI, Boston Division, Lexington Police, and the helpful hand of the Sudbury Police Department.
The repercussions of Iannelli's action may involve a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, a supervised release for five years, and a fine potentially as steep as $1 million, as bank fraud is no small matter in the eyes of the law. This case saw the prosecuting mantle taken up by Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Drabick of the Securities, Financial, & Cyber Fraud Unit.
