Accountant Charged with Stealing $3.4 Million from Employer

BOSTON – A former accountant for an investment advising company was charged and arrested today in connection with embezzling nearly $3.4 million from employer.    

Gary Tiffany II, 32, was arrested today and charged in a criminal complaint with bank fraud, wire fraud, and engaging in illegal monetary transactions.  Tiffany had an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell this afternoon. 

According to the complaint, from June 2010 to November 2015, Tiffany was employed as an accountant and office manager by an investment advisor company which has domestic offices in Boston and New York City.  During that time, Tiffany obtained a total of more than $3,380,000 from the company by wiring funds from its accounts to his personal accounts and forging checks from the company’s accounts payable to himself.  As alleged in the complaint, Tiffany concealed the scheme by, among other things, making false entries in the company’s electronic accounting system and by manipulating the company’s bank statements to remove references to wire transfers he had made into his personal accounts.  The company allegedly discovered Tiffany’s theft of funds after he was downsized in the fall of 2015.  When he was later confronted by the company’s executives, Tiffany admitted to transferring about $1 million from the company to himself and spending it. 

The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $1 million, and restitution.  The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and restitution.  The charge of engaging in illegal monetary transactions provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and restitution.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the criminal complaint are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.