AgQuest Accountant Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Embezzling more than $1.7 Million

United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced the sentencing of DIANE MARIE EILER, 48, to 42 months in prison for stealing $1.7 million from her employer. EILER, who pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on April 15, 2016, was sentenced today before Senior U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minn.

“Eiler systematically abused the trust of her employer to steal more than $1.7 million,” said Assistant United States Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “The sentence imposed today by the court demonstrates that financial crimes are taken seriously and that white collar criminals are subject to significant consequences for their illegal acts.”

According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, EILER was the Director of Accounting at AgQuest Financial Services, Inc., a financial services company based in Morgan, Minn., which offers loans and insurance to farmers and other agricultural producers. From 2007 through November 2015, EILER used her position to funnel money from AgQuest to her own personal bank accounts.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea, EILER stole company checks and wrote them out to herself, using the signature stamps of the company’s executives. She hid the theft by creating false entries in AgQuest’s ledger to disguise the payments as payments to AgQuest customers. In total, EILER wrote more than 250 checks to herself, which totaled more than $1.7 million. EILER gambled away almost all of the stolen money.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI.

Defendant Information:

DIANE MARIE EILER, 48
Bird Island, Minn.

Convicted:

• Wire fraud, 1 count

Sentenced:

• 42 months in prison
• 3 years supervised release
• $1,738,459 in restitution