Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
BOSTON – A former bookkeeper for a Lexington interior design firm was sentenced today to two years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud charges in connection with embezzling more than $180,000 from her former employer.
Christina Iannelli, 51, of Sudbury, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Iannelli was also ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture in the amount of $185,120. In December 2023, Iannelli pleaded guilty to seven counts of bank fraud.
Iannelli was an independent contractor for an interior design firm based in Lexington. Beginning in or about October 2018, Iannelli prepared dozens of fraudulent invoices with inflated totals derived from inaccurate math, and then issued herself checks for the inflated amounts due from the firm’s checking account. Additionally, beginning in or about July 2019, Iannelli issued herself dozens of additional unauthorized checks. In both instances, Iannelli used a signature stamp in the name of the firm’s owner to issue the fraudulent checks.
To conceal the fraudulent payments, Iannelli made false entries in the firm’s accounting records. In total, Iannelli embezzled more than $30,000 through inflated compensation checks and more than $150,000 through additional unauthorized checks.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Lexington Police Chief Michael McLean made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Sudbury Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Drabick of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.