Virginia Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing Millions From MA Employer

The man was first arrested back in May.

By Benjamin Pierce, Patch Staff

Aug 11, 2026 1:42 PM EDT

BOSTON, MA — A Virginia man has agreed to plead guilty in Boston federal court to stealing more than $7.1 million from his employer over the course of more than a decade, the United States District Attorney's Office announced.

Ricardo Fontanilla, 66, of Fairfax, Virginia, was charged with wire fraud and has agreed to plead guilty. Fontanilla was first arrested at his home in May and was later ordered detained pending trial.

Fontanilla worked from 2013 through December 2025 as a Security Administration Services employee for a global financial services company with its U.S. headquarters in Massachusetts, according to court documents. Prosecutors said his position gave him access to financial systems that tracked borrowers' mortgage payments connected to residential mortgage-backed securities. Beginning in 2013, Fontanilla allegedly altered company records to make it appear the company was receiving excess payments from mortgage servicing companies collecting payments from borrowers. Fontanilla then allegedly transferred the supposed excess payments back to one mortgage servicer and falsely told its representatives that his employer had mistakenly refunded the money. When directing the mortgage servicer to return the purported mistaken refunds, Fontanilla allegedly instructed the company to wire the money to a personal Wells Fargo bank account he controlled.

Investigators said Fontanilla received more than $7.1 million in wire transfers between 2013 and 2025. Fontanilla allegedly used more than $4.78 million to make personal credit card payments to Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and American Express, along with $873,000 in mortgage and loan payments, more than $200,000 in cash and cash-equivalent withdrawals in the United States and abroad, at least $300,000 in deposits to JPMorgan Chase brokerage accounts and approximately $125,000 in payments to Toyota. Prosecutors said the spending, which included substantial purchases from luxury brands and premium air travel throughout the United States, Caribbean and Asia, far exceeded Fontanilla's approximately $83,000 annual salary.

The charge of wire fraud carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, along with restitution and forfeiture.