Broken Arrow Woman Sentenced for Wire Fraud and Filing a False Tax Return

A Broken Arrow woman was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for stealing $654,579 from her employer. Brandy Okey, 40, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and to signing a false tax return in March 2020.

Chief U.S. District Judge John E. Dowdell sentenced Okey to 41 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. The Court further ordered the defendant pay $654,579 in restitution.

“Brandy Okey fraudulently pocketed more than $650,000 as chief financial officer when she embezzled from the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority box office sales at Expo Square. Because of her greed, she now gets to spend more than three years in federal prison and pay back the ill-gotten funds to her employer,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “White collar criminals don’t get a pass for the financial fraud they inflict on businesses. Like all criminals, they will be met by a federal prosecutor to bring them to account for their crimes.”

In her position with Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, Okey was responsible for accounting and financial management. Okey admitted that she used her access to the Expo Square box office cash collections to take cash funds. She then deposited a portion of the embezzled cash funds into personal bank accounts for her own use. Okey further used a portion of the cash funds to directly pay for personal expenses without depositing the funds. In order to conceal her scheme, Okey shredded the original deposit slips or prepared new slips showing a lower deposit amount. To further hide her scheme, Okey admitted that she did not accurately record box office collections on TCPFA financial statements. The fraudulent statements were emailed to the company’s Board of Directors.

Okey also admitted that she made and signed a false tax return for the year 2017 when she knowingly failed to report approximately $294,450 of income acquired through the scheme that year.

The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Roberts prosecuted the case.