Former Bookkeeper Of East Bay Real Estate Investment Company Sentenced To Prison For Embezzlement And Tax Evasion Scheme

OAKLAND - Kristie Gale Meyer was sentenced yesterday to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,332,329.35 in restitution to the victims and $584,092 to the IRS, arising from a multi-year scheme to embezzle funds from her employer, United States Attorney Melinda Haag and IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Jose M. Martinez announced.

Meyer pleaded guilty on November 21, 2012, to mail fraud and tax evasion. According to the plea agreement, Meyer admitted to engaging in a multi-year scheme to defraud her employer, Ansil Realty & Investment Co. and its partner, KLP Properties, Inc. Meyer worked as Ansil’s secretary, office manager, and bookkeeper. She stole money by several means, including paying her credit card bills with checks drawn on the companies’ bank accounts and using those funds for her personal benefit, by taking cash advances, and by making payments to online gambling websites. Meyer also wrote checks drawn on the companies’ bank accounts and made deposits directly into her personal bank account. Meyer took steps to conceal her fraud by making false accounting entries in the companies’ accounting system to make her fraudulent transactions appear to be legitimate business expenditures, and by destroying copies of the fraudulent checks.

For the tax years 2006, 2007, and 2008, Meyer also willfully attempted to evade a large part of the income tax due and owing by filing false returns. Meyer knew that her taxable income for those years was substantially in excess of the amounts stated on her returns.

Meyer, 56, of Woodland Hills, CA, was indicted by a federal grand jury on August 2, 2010, on ten counts of wire fraud and three counts of tax evasion.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton following a guilty plea on one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 and one count of tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Judge Hamilton also sentenced the defendant to a three year period of supervised release, along with an order forfeiting $2,013,149.09.

Wade M. Rhyne is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Janice Pagsanjan. The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.