Charlotte Woman Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud For Embezzling Funds Intended As Charitable Assistance To Individuals Experiencing Financial Hardships

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, a Charlotte woman pleaded guilty to wire fraud for embezzling money from a non-profit organization that provides charitable assistance to individuals experiencing financial hardships, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Leah S. Belk, 48, of Charlotte, entered a plea of guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer.

Matthew Quinn, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Charlotte Field Office, joins U.S. Attorney Rose in making today’s announcement.

According to the filed plea agreement and other court documents, from August 2010 to March 2017, Belk engaged in a scheme to defraud her employer (the Company), and an affiliated non-profit organization (the Foundation), of which she was a board member, by embezzling funds intended to provide charitable assistance to employees faced with financial hardships.  According to court records, the Foundation received funding primarily from donations made by the Company’s employees through payroll deductions.

Court records show that members of the Foundation’s board of directors, which was comprised of Company employees, evaluated applications received from Company employees to determine whether to award financial assistance based on the employee’s need and the events that contributed to the hardship.  The Foundation typically paid an approved employee’s expenses directly by issuing checks payable to the employee’s mortgage or utility companies to cover the employee’s bills.  The Foundation also purchased Company gift cards to provide to awarded applicants in times of need.

According to court records, Belk was an employee of the Company from 1992 until her termination in March 2017.  From 2006 until her termination, Belk was also a member of the Foundation’s board of directors and acted as the Foundation’s secretary.  Court records show that Belk performed administrative tasks in connection with the Foundation’s operations, including: assembling and logging applications reviewed by the board; communicating directly with applicants; coordinating the initiation and processing of checks to be paid on behalf of awarded applicants; and maintaining control over Company gift cards purchased by the Foundation to provide employees in need. 

Belk admitted in plea documents and in court today that, beginning in August 2010 through March 2017, she used Foundation funds intended for needy Company employees to pay for personal expenses, including her mortgage and utility bills.  Belk also admitted to falsifying and modifying applications and other Foundation documents to cover the fraud. Specifically, Belk admitted to modifying approved applications and documents after payments had been made to awarded applicants, to cause the issuance of additional checks to cover her own personal expenses using Foundation funds.  Belk also diverted applications from the board, and falsified and reused board approval forms, to approve payments and the issuance of checks to cover personal expenses.  Belk also modified rejected applications to falsely reflect that they had been approved, and, based on the falsified approvals, Belk directed the issuance of checks to pay for her personal expenditures.  Court records also show that Belk used Company gift cards intended for needy employees to make purchases for herself.

Over the course of the scheme, Belk falsified documents and diverted payments for her own benefit in approximately 45 separate incidents.  In total, Belk fraudulently diverted more than $77,000 in Foundation funds.

Belk pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud and was released on bond. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum prison term of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.  A sentencing date has not been set yet.

U.S. Secret Service led the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney William Miller, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, is prosecuting the case.