Danbury Man Pleads Guilty To $1.1 Million Embezzlement Scheme

DANBURY, CT — A city man has pleaded guilty to a fraud offense related to a $1.1 million embezzlement scheme, according to a news release from the US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Anthony Teixeira, 50, of Danbury went before the court via videoconference.

According to court documents and statements made in court, for more than 25 years, Teixeira was employed by Joseph Merritt & Company, a Hartford-based printing company. Teixeira most recently oversaw the JMC branch located in Danbury.

Between approximately January 2012 and February 2019, Teixeira defrauded JMC and its customers by presenting sales orders, or test sales orders, to customers as though they were actually invoices, according to court documents. Customers, believing they were paying JMC for the work, then delivered payments into accounts that Teixeira controlled. Teixeira also stole printing-related inventory from JMC inventory and sold it online, but manipulated invoices to deceive JMC’s systems into thinking the company had sold the inventory. The loss attributable to Teixeira through these schemes is approximately $1.1 million, according to the court.

Teixeira was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Dec. 12, 2019, and he was subsequently released on a $50,000 bond. He has been detained since June 1, 2020, after a court determined that Teixeira had violated the conditions of his release and revoked his bond.

An investigation revealed that Teixeira spent more than $48,000 while released on bond, in violation of court-imposed restrictions on his financial activity.

Teixeira pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 12, 2020.