Federal government alleges woman stole $ 15 million from employer – The Taylorsville Times

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Donna Osowitt Steele (Facebook photo)

A Taylorsville woman is accused of embezzling over $ 15 million from her employer which she used to fund an extravagant lifestyle and to fund personal businesses run by her and her family. The revelation came in a briefing note filed by the United States Attorney’s Office on Friday, December 17, 2021 in U.S. District Court, Western District, Statesville Division. The filing was made by Dena J. King, United States Attorney, and Maria K. Vento, Deputy United States Attorney.

Donna Osowitt Steele, of Taylorsville, has been named as the alleged hijacker. The United States attorney accuses that from 2013 until January 2020, Steele executed a scheme to defraud his employer, called “Victim Company A” in the file. According to company documents filed with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office, Steele was on Tigra USA, Inc.’s list of vice presidents. The company was organized and based primarily in County of Ashe and more recently in Hickory. Tigra USA is a subsidiary of a European company which manufactures carbide products used in saw blades for the wood industry. The owners of Tigra USA and its parent company live overseas.

The record indicated that Steele was employed by the company from or around 1999 until his termination on or around January 28, 2020. Steele was originally hired to work in the shipping department. Over the next 20 years, she was promoted to various positions at Tigra, including, in 2008 or around 2008, to Vice President and, around 2015, obtaining the title of Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). ), a position she held until she was fired, the U.S. prosecutor said.

Opulence by Steele was an upscale clothing and furniture boutique, founded circa 2013 or circa 2013, founded and operated by Steele in Hickory. Between 2014 and 2016, the record indicates that Steele transferred more than $ 350,000 of the funds she diverted from Tigra to accounts in the name of Opulence by Steele.

Steele used her role as vice president and then CEO to embezzle more than $ 15 million from Tigra. As part of his fraud scheme, Steele embezzled funds by fraudulently carrying out four types of financial transactions: (1) purchases of personal credit cards on corporate cards; (2) checks; (3) “Quickbook operations; ”And (4) electronic transfers.

Investigators say it was part of his scheme to defraud that Steele concealed his embezzlement from Tigra owners and employees by:

a. Open bank accounts and credit cards in Tigra’s name without the knowledge or consent of the owners and use these accounts to hijack Tigra; b. Limit communication and interaction between employees and owners of Tigra and monitor all communications that have occurred; vs. Convince employees that owners were to be feared and that they should be afraid to communicate with them and / or should be careful with them; d. Falsely telling employees that Tigra’s financial problems were due to the parent company withdrawing money from Tigra’s accounts; and / or ore. Require employees to provide her with their passwords for all company systems, including their email, so that she can monitor and / or access their accounts.

The federal filing said: “It was further part of his scheme to defraud that Steele used his position to ensure that his fraudulent transactions were processed, even when those transactions were reported.

For example, when one of the credit card companies emailed Steele highlighting as “suspicious transactions” a charge of over $ 2,000 at Ted Baker and over $ 1,800 at Sephora at New York, carried out on [company] credit cards, Steele replied, “Yes, they are good and approved – thank you! “

From 2013 or around January 2020, Steele fraudulently used corporate credit cards, which were repaid with funds from corporate bank accounts, to pay over $ 6 million in personal expenses for herself, his family and friends. For example:

a. Steele billed over $ 1 million for travel expenses on airlines and hotels for herself, her family and friends, including around $ 255,000 for stays at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, approximately $ 110,000 for stays at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua and over $ 6,800 for a trip to a Notre Dame / Virginia Tech football game b. Steele billed over $ 1 million in entertainment-related expenses, of which approximately $ 354,000 billed to TIXSTOP; vs. Steele billed over $ 500,000 for jewelry, of which approximately $ 455,000 billed to the Jewelry Exchange d. Steele billed Carolina Wedding approximately $ 197,000 to pay for her family members’ wedding expenses; e. Steele billed “Old Edwards Inn Highlands NC” nearly $ 19,000 for a family wedding in Highlands, NC. F. Steele billed over $ 100,000 for flowers; g. Steele billed over $ 100,000 at Gucci; andh. Steele invoiced over $ 116,000 in expenses related to Opulence by Steele.

Between 2013 or around January 2020, Steele fraudulently issued and caused herself to be issued approximately 98 checks from Victim Company A bank accounts, totaling over $ 2.8 million, without the knowledge or consent of Tigra.

Between 2017 or around January 2020, Steele made at least 117 fraudulent and unauthorized bank transfers, totaling more than $ 2.2 million, from Tigra’s bank accounts to his personal bank account.

As a result of the embezzlement, Tigra encountered several difficulties, including suppliers who withheld products due to late payment or non-payment, customers complaining of being put on credit hold, employees being denied their company’s credit cards while trying to use them for legitimate purposes. business expenses, employees are not paid on time; and / or employees whose insurance is terminated without notice.

Despite Steele’s efforts to limit communication between owners and company employees, at the 2019 annual meeting, owners learned that there was not enough inventory to meet customer orders. As a result, they determined that the numbers Steele reported to them were much higher than the actual inventory.

During the same period, owners have also received complaints from customers about inventory, credit holds and / or pressure to pay, despite on-time customer payments.

After an internal investigation, Steele was fired. His dismissal resolved Tigra’s financial difficulties as there were no longer inventory and customer credit withholding issues, the company’s credit cards were not declined, and there were no more payroll and employee insurance issues, according to the file.

Therefore, the federal case alleges that Donna Osowitt Steele knowingly and intentionally engineered an embezzlement scheme in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343. The United States Attorney is seeking forfeiture of all property that constitutes or are derived from the proceeds of such violations. If property cannot be located after the exercise of due diligence, has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with a third party, has been placed outside the jurisdiction of the court, has suffered a substantial loss of value or have been mixed with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty, all the other property of the defendant (s) up to the value of the property described. The filing then requests “a forfeiture judgment in the amount of at least $ 16,868,354.94, which amount constitutes the proceeds of the violations set out in this information return”.

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