South Holland Woman, 46, Who Embezzled $100K From Employer Gets Probation, Must Pay It Back: Judge

CHICAGO — A South Holland woman and former paralegal who embezzled $100,000 from her former employer has been sentenced to home confinement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday.

As part of her paralegal duties, Nakesha Davis, 46, facilitated payments from the company to former employees with whom the company had entered into settlement agreements. Davis created and submitted false approvals from managers in the company’s legal department purporting to approve settlement payments to certain former employees. Davis knew, however, that those former employees either did not have a settlement agreement with the company or, if they did, the amount of the settlement was different than the amount specified in Davis’s submissions, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Davis supplied the company’s payroll department with her own bank account information in place of the former employee’s information, causing the company to issue the settlement payments directly to Davis.

In total, Davis caused the company to fraudulently issue her $99,905.17.

Davis pleaded guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge. On Wednesday, she was sentenced to six months of home confinement as part of a two-year term of probation. U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah also ordered her to pay back the $99,905.17.