Bloomfield Man, Former Hotel Worker Embezzled $300K: Feds

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A Bloomfield resident who formerly worked at a nationwide hotel chain admitted his role in a scheme to embezzle more than $300,000 from the company, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Marco Alvarez, 46, of Bloomfield, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors released the following statement about the case:

“As senior analyst for strategic sourcing for a national hotel chain, Alvarez was responsible for administering the company’s corporate credit card program. He was authorized to approve applications for credit cards and to access account information for such credit cards. From April 2014 through January 2020, Alvarez embezzled funds from the hotel through the unauthorized use of the hotel’s corporate credit cards to purchase goods and services. Alvarez admitted that he knowingly opened and used corporate credit cards to make $317,582 in unauthorized personal purchases and attempted to conceal them by transferring credits owed to the hotel to these credit cards to offset the unauthorized charges made.”

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross profits or loss, whichever is greatest, prosecutors said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21.

Sign up for Patch email newsletters. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Bloomfield Facebook page. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com