FL Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $270,000 From Nonprofit

LARGO, FL — A Largo woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $271,465 from her employer, a nonprofit organization.

On Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Kristina Ann Ballard, 52, admitted to U.S. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan that she committed wire fraud while working for a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., while employed as the director of finance for the nonprofit between August 2014 and December 2020.

According to Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, who investigated the case, from January 2015 through December 2020, Ballard wired funds raised by the nonprofit to bank accounts that she controlled.

She also intercepted credit card rewards checks issued to the nonprofit and deposited those checks into a bank account she controlled, and she charged personal purchases on the nonprofit's credit card.

In fact, said Jacobs, Ballard used the nonprofit's credit card to pay $24,694 in restitution to the Arlington County Circuit Court for a prior embezzlement scheme for which she was convicted in Virginia.

He said Ballard concealed her fraud from the organization by listing various beneficiary names on wire transfers and creating fake invoices, often using fake company names.

She also forged the executive director’s signature on the credit card rewards checks before she deposited them.

Ballard was ultimately fired from her job for poor performance.

Under a plea agreement with U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Ballard agreed to pay back all the money she embezzled from her former employer.

She also faces 33 to 44 months in federal prison. Her sentencing is scheduled July 22.