A former marketing executive at the CFA Institute has admitted in a Manhattan courtroom to embezzling nearly $6 million from two employers, wrapping up a long-running corporate theft scheme that quietly stretched across nearly a decade.
Michael J. Collins, 61, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Collins is expected to be sentenced in June and faces as much as nine years in prison.
Prosecutors say the scheme ran for roughly eight years while Collins served as the CFA Institute’s chief marketing officer, routing payments to consulting firms he secretly controlled. As reported by InvestmentNews, the fake vendors submitted dozens of bogus invoices that were routinely paid by his employers.
Officials say Collins used the proceeds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle, paying for executive club memberships, numerous plane tickets and a $150,000 engagement ring. To keep the money flowing and out of sight, he allegedly created bank accounts and email addresses to conceal transfers. Local reporting on the indictment traced as many as 144 fraudulent invoices to the CFA Institute, according to WECT.
Charges and What Is at Stake
The original indictment included counts of grand larceny and falsifying business records, and prosecutors say Collins will be sentenced on two counts of grand larceny, with a statutory maximum of nine years. Those charges and details of the alleged scheme were outlined in earlier reporting on the case by Bloomberg.
Where Employers Stand
Representatives for Collins and his most recent employer said he is no longer associated with the company, and the CFA Institute did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to reporting around the initial indictment. The DA’s prosecution and this guilty plea close a high-dollar embezzlement chapter but leave lingering questions about internal controls at the organizations that signed off on the invoices.
The court is set to formalize Collins’s sentence at the June hearing. In the meantime, the case has renewed scrutiny of how nonprofits and education publishers vet outside consultants and monitor vendor payments.
