A former office manager for a San Francisco law firm has been slapped with a three-year prison sentence after raiding more than $1 million from his employer's bank account. Jairo Tomas Santos, 42, from San Mateo, California, got caught in the act after siphoning off a hefty $1.1 million through fraudulent checks over a seven-year period, according to the Justice Department.
Santos was nailed down for bank fraud and has been ordered to cough up $1,191,638.64 in restitution, per the announcement made Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. The cheat’s swindling days ended after Judge William H. Alsup passed the sentence, criticizing the act harshly as "unforgivable" and berating Santos for exploiting his position at the law firm. According to the plea, Santos started his sly game in March 2016 and continued undetected until February 2023, deceiving the firm and even forging the signature of its senior partner.
The theft was intricate, with Santos admitting in his plea agreement, as detailed on the Department of Justice website, to depositing around 806 counterfeit checks into his personal bank accounts at Wells Fargo. This sum totaled approximately $1,191,683. It's stated that he deposited these checks knowing fully well the payments were never green-lit by the law firm or its senior partner.
An indictment from the federal grand jury came on July 25, 2023, where Santos got served with three counts of bank fraud. Eventually, he pleaded guilty to one of these counts. Throughout the sentencing, Judge Alsup didn't mince words, portraying the case as "an egregious case" with "hundreds and hundreds of checks written and stolen." On top of the prison term, Santos is sentenced to a five-year supervised release period once he's out from behind bars, with his prison term starting on April 23.
The case was brought to light due to diligent work by the FBI, and it's being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christiaan Highsmith, with support from Aarian Beiti.
