Former Emory Employee Sentenced for Embezzlement

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A former employee of Emory University has been sentenced to federal prison following her April guilty plea on charges of embezzlement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Brenda Michael, 53, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of probation for stealing $317,923.33 of tuition fees from university students. Michael directed students looking to enroll in certain medical programs to submit tuition payments to a PayPal account they thought belonged to the university but in fact belonged to Michael.

“Those Emory University students had every right to trust in Ms. Michael, who was assigned by the University to assist those students. Unfortunately, Ms. Michael chose to betray that trust and use her position for personal gain. The FBI is pleased with its role in ensuring that Ms. Michael be held fully accountable for her criminal conduct, which today’s sentencing certainly does,” said J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.

“Emory University is satisfied with the outcome of this case and with the excellent work of the United States Attorney’s Office in prosecuting Ms. Michael for her crime. We take the security of our students’ financial information and thefts by employees very seriously and are pleased that we could work cooperatively with the United States Attorney’s Office in bringing the investigation to a successful conclusion,” said Nancy Seideman, Associate Vice President, Media Relations, Emory University.