03-22-04 -- Gentry, Darlene -- Sentencing -- News Release

Trusted Employee Sentenced to 57 Months for Stealing $5 Million from Banker

TRENTON - The former assistant to a bank executive was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for committing mail fraud and tax evasion in connection with embezzling more than $5 million from her former employer's personal accounts, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Darlene Gentry, 53, formerly of Princeton, West Windsor and Middletown, New Jersey, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. in Trenton for spending the money on financing of three homes, lavish shopping sprees, extensive international travel for her and others, artwork, a Range Rover and more.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Brown ordered Gentry to make full restitution in the amount of $5.1 million, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner. Before today, about $1 million in assets had been recovered, and the restitution was ordered in addition to that amount.

"Ms. Gentry knew no boundaries when it came to greed and profligate spending," Christie said. "Hers is among the more audacious frauds I've seen."

Judge Brown, noting the egregious nature and extent of Gentry's fraud - sentenced Gentry to the top of the eligible range - 46 to 57 months - available to him under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Judge Brown revoked Gentry's bail and ordered her remanded to custody to immediately begin serving her prison sentence.

Gentry had been charged in a seven-count Information with mail fraud and multiple tax evasion counts for the period from 1995 through 2001. She was initially charged in a complaint and arrested on Nov. 5, 2003, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she now lives.

According to the Information, Gentry was employed by United Jersey Bank and then Summit Bank, both in Princeton, starting in 1983 as a secretary and later vice president and assistant to a bank executive (the "banker"). Gentry admitted handling various business and personal affairs of the banker, who gave her power of attorney over personal accounts and authorized her to sign checks to pay the banker's personal expenses. Gentry was also responsible for reconciling the accounts over which she had power of attorney.

Gentry admitted at her plea in December that, from at least as early as 1995 to 2001, she defrauded the banker by writing checks on the banker's personal accounts, and withdrawing money from those accounts, to pay her own personal expenses. During this period, Gentry admitted she embezzled more than $5 million from the banker.

As part of the scheme, Gentry admitted obtaining treasurer's checks to pay her personal expenses. She wrote checks on the banker's account made payable to Summit Bank or United Jersey Bank, negotiated the checks at the bank, and then obtained bank treasurer's checks payable to a third party for the same amount. Gentry then transmitted the treasurer's checks to credit card companies and vendors to use for her own personal expenses. At times, the Information states that Gentry wrote false notes on the checks to conceal her scheme.

Gentry also admitted writing checks on the banker's account made payable directly to third parties to fund personal expenses. In addition, Gentry wrote checks to cash totaling more than $900,000 on the banker's account. She gave some of the cash to the banker, as requested. She admitted that, unbeknownst to the banker, she kept the majority of the money for her own use.

Gentry admitted making the following expenditures with the banker's funds:

• From 1995 through 2001, Gentry paid more than $1.6 million to American Express for her credit card bills.

• In 2000 and 2001, Gentry paid $58,400 to Chase Manhattan Bank toward a credit card account she maintained.

• From 1997 through 2001, Gentry paid more than $60,000 toward a Discover card account maintained by a third individual.

• According to the Information and Complaint, credit card statements for these accounts reveal that Gentry and the other individual made purchases totaling more than $1.7 million. The items purchased included artwork, jewelry, clothing, home furnishings, computer equipment, more than $11,000 in shipping costs, more than $97,000 in Macy's charges, and more than $169,000 in Bloomingdales charges.

• Gentry also admitted purchasing three homes in West Windsor, Princeton, and Middletown, New Jersey, in 2000, using in part more than $850,000 in funds belonging to the banker. According to the Complaint, she told a real estate broker assisting her that she was independently wealthy from a bequest from her grandmother, and that she had a trust fund funded with "tobacco" money. Gentry further stated that she was a collector of art and wanted to display her artwork in the homes she purchased.

• From at least 1995 to 2001, Gentry admitted she paid for costly vacations for herself and others. The Information and Complaint detail that she wrote checks totaling more than $600,000 to Kriegner Travel Services and also charged more than $75,000 on her American Express card accounts on behalf of Kriegner. Records from the travel agency confirm that Gentry made arrangements for herself and others for travel to Japan, Brazil, Mongolia, China and elsewhere. For example, in September and October 2000, Gentry and eight others traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania. The land portion of the trip cost $182,879. Gentry wrote a check dated Sept. 1, 2000, on the banker's account to Kriegner Travel Services for $186,204. In addition, in March 2000, Kriegner made travel arrangements for nine individuals, including her relatives, to Walt Disney World in Florida. Gentry wrote a check on the banker's account to Kriegner for $27,212.79, dated Feb. 18, 2000, for that trip.

• Gentry admitted purchasing a 2000 Range Rover from Land Rover of Princeton in 2000, which cost more than $78,000, with the banker's funds.

• Gentry admitted that, from 1997 to 2000, she paid more than $285,000 to Matteo & Co., in Princeton, a supplier of home furnishings and designer services. According to the Complaint, records from Matteo confirm that Gentry purchased furniture, fabrics, and design services from the company. For example, an invoice dated May 15, 2000 reveals that Matteo purchased merchandise in Paris for Gentry, which cost $76,230. Listed on the invoice is a $40,000 deposit applied to the account on March 30, 2000, traced to the banker's funds.

•Sundry other expenditures detailed in the Complaint: $17,000 for installation of an air conditioning and heating system at a property Gentry owned in Princeton; $16,686 for bath fixtures; $10,000 for architectural services on properties Gentry bought with the banker's funds; $18,220 for custom art framing and $100,000 to an art gallery.

• The Complaint also charged that in 2001, Gentry operated her own company, Wanderings Trading, Co., Inc. Gentry's business attempted to sell artwork on consignment to Gallery Domani of Red Bank, New Jersey. In January 2001, Gentry paid the owner of Gallery Domani $50,000 for various personal expenses, using the banker's funds. Also in 2001, Gentry paid $8,000 to Don Verile, who provided catering services for a party at The Art Gallery in Red Bank.

• In connection with her art business, the Complaint charges that Gentry paid more than $13,000 to All Ways Forwarding for freight charges and customs services for shipping wood carvings and furniture. Another $15,000 was paid to Jagro, a customs broker and freight forwarder, which billed Gentry for freight and service charges in connection with two 20-foot containers shipped to Port Newark from Cape Town, South Africa. Jagro's records list scores of shipped items including statues, masks, bronze heads, musical instruments, and carved chairs.

• In a bank loan Gentry applied for in 2000 to be used for working capital, renovations and equipment purchases related to the start-up of Wanderings Trading, Gentry reported that the business had an inventory of $800,000, according to the Complaint.

The Information alleged that Gentry failed to declare the following amounts of money she embezzled on her federal tax returns: tax year 1996 - $314,634; tax year 1997 - $320,681; tax year 1998 - $659,127; tax year 1999 - $865,187; tax year 2000 - $2,273,958; tax year 2001 - $1,120,268. Gentry pleaded guilty to tax evasion for the 2000 tax year, but the entire amount of evaded income was considered by Judge Brown at sentencing.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Judge Brown determined Gentry's actual sentence based on a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense and the defendant's criminal history, if any.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes, Postal Inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Martin Phanco, and Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Joseph Billy, Jr., for developing the case against Gentry.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner, Chief of the Criminal Division.

-end-

Defense Attorney: Kevin Carlucci, Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender Newark