Stamford Woman Sentenced In Federal Embezzlement Case

STAMFORD, CT — A 32-year-old Stamford woman was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for embezzling more than $1 million from her employer, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham.

Candace Rispoli was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport, and her sentence stipulates that she must also serve the first six months of her supervised release in home confinement.

According to prosecutors and court documents, from approximately January 2012 until June 2016, Rispoli was employed by Lodestone Management Consultants, later known as Infosys Consulting, and beginning in approximately 2013, Rispoli worked for the company from her former home in East Haven. She shared the home with her then-boyfriend, Michael Miano.

As an employee, Rispoli had a company American Express credit card to use to pay for travel, entertainment and other business expenses incurred by the company's employees and potential employees.

During the three-year period from approximately 2013 until July 2016, Rispoli charged more than $250,000 of her own and Miano's personal expenses to the company's American Express card.

Additionally, she also fraudulently transferred more than $800,000 in funds from the company's American Express card to PayPal and Venmo accounts that she and Miano controlled. To conceal her scheme, Rispoli altered the company’s American Express account statements and created false billing summaries, which she emailed to the company's accounting firm.

Judge Bolden ordered Rispoli to pay $1,098,176 in restitution.

From Durham's release:

On June 24, 2018, Rispoli pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She has been detained since May 13, 2019, after her bond was revoked.

On September 1, 2017, Miano, of Branford, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to this scheme. He awaits sentencing.

This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather Cherry and Jonathan Francis.