Phyllis Stevens and Marla Stevens Sentenced for Multi-Million Dollar Embezzlement Scheme and Tax Fraud

Source- http://omaha.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/om012111.htm

DES MOINES, IA—Phyllis Stevens and Marla Stevens were sentenced today for multiple felony offenses, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Phyllis Stevens was sentenced to a term of 72 months in prison, based upon her earlier guilty pleas to the crimes of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to file false income tax returns, wire fraud, computer fraud, and filing a false income tax return. Her term of imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also imposed a mandatory $600 special assessment payable to the Crime Victim Fund.

Marla Stevens was sentenced to a term of 40 months in prison, based upon her earlier guilty pleas to the crimes of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to file false income tax returns. Her term of imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also imposed a mandatory $200 special assessment payable to the Crime Victim Fund.

The sentences were imposed by Senior District Judge Ronald E. Longstaff, who also ordered restitution to be paid by both defendants in the amount of $6,757,069.62, payable to Aviva USA, the victim of the embezzlement. The defendants also were ordered to forfeit real estate located in Iowa and Indiana, and the balance of a bank account, because these assets were obtained from the crimes alleged against them.

In a written plea agreement, Phyllis Stevens had admitted to a long-time pattern of embezzlement by making false and fraudulent entries into the computer system of her employer. She admitted to using large sums of this money to purchase real estate and for making large payments to American Express. She further admitted to filing false income tax returns which failed to report the embezzled income in her own name, and which sometimes falsely reported the income in the names of other individuals as part of an effort to conceal the fraud. Marla Stevens admitted that she knew or had reason to know that Phyllis Stevens was receiving income from some form of unlawful activity, that she participated in financial transactions with the proceeds of Phyllis Steven's unlawful activity, and that she participated in the filing of false income tax returns.

"These sentences show that so-called 'white collar' offenses are serious crimes, and that committing these crimes can bring severe consequences," stated United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. "I would like to commend the FBI and IRS for their fine work in investigating this case and AUSA Andrew Kahl for his good work in prosecuting it. While this was a complex case, at the end of the day, it came down to one thing: greed. Phyllis and Marla Stevens lived a lavish lifestyle on stolen money, and now they are going to pay the price. Let this case be a lesson to others who might think about stealing from their employer. We will catch you, we will prosecute you, and you will pay the price."

Weysan Dun, Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha Division of the FBI, which covers the states of Iowa and Nebraska stated, "White collar crime is not a victimless crime. Fraud or embezzlement is essentially a robbery committed by paper rather than brute force. It results in financial loss to someone and it ultimately undermines confidence in our nation's economic infrastructure so everyone ends up paying for it in some way. The FBI is committed to investigating white collar crimes and we encourage anyone who has information about fraud or embezzlement to report it to the FBI."

"The role of IRS-Criminal Investigation becomes even more important in embezzlement cases due to the complex financial transactions that can take time to unravel," said Toni Weirauch, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation. "The Federal Tax laws are normally violated in these cases. As we often see, the victims are not only the taxpayers, but also the entities who suffer financial harm."

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