Atlanta Woman Embezzled $1.5M From Employer: Feds

ATLANTA, GA — An Atlanta woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.5 million from her employer over a six year period, the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Wednesday. Stantisha D. Kemp entered a guilty to plea to wire fraud and will be sentenced later this year.

“Accountants who lie, cheat, and steal threaten the financial solvency of businesses,” said U.S. Attorney BJay Pak. “Businesses must remain vigilant against fraud – all too often the perpetrator is someone they know.”

According to federal prosecutors, Kemp was the payroll and accounting manager at an Atlanta-based company that developed medical technology. Between 2007 and 2013, Kemp took $1.5 million from the company by falsifying payroll records sent to a third-party processing company and instructing the processor to direct deposit funds into her personal bank accounts on a monthly basis.

She also told the payroll processing company that a doctor with the initials Y.H.J. was a company employee, and directed that company to deposit the doctor's salary payments into her personal bank accounts. Kemp concealed her scheme by preparing a set of fabricated internal payroll records that made no mention of Y.H.J., who had not been employed by the company since early April 2010. Nonetheless, Y.H.J.’s unauthorized salary payments were deposited into Kemp’s personal bank accounts each month until February 2013.

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Kemp, 40, will be sentenced at 11 a.m. June 11 in front of U.S. District Court Judge Steven C. Jones, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

“For several years, Kemp took advantage of her position of managing the company’s payroll,” said David J. LeValley, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. “Her guilty plea should send a message that no matter your position, you cannot profit illegally, or violate the trust of the company who hires you.”

This case is being investigated by the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kamal Ghali is prosecuting the case.

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