No Jail Time For Accountant Accused Of Stealing From Matawan Employer

MATAWAN, NJ — An accountant who worked as the chief financial officer of a Matawan-based company pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer from 2020-2022, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced Wednesday.

Scott Lifshitz, 60, a Brick Township resident, was sentenced last Friday, May 12 by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill O’Malley to two years’ probation. He will serve no jail time.

Lifshitz previously paid restitution in the amount of $833,000 to his former employer.

The company was not named, to protect their privacy. It was only identified as a financial services technology company located in Matawan.

Prosecutors say that Lifshitz, a CPA, oversaw the daily financial operations of the company. He had access to all of the company’s bank accounts. In that capacity, he was able to write company checks payable to himself and to initiate wire transfers of company funds into his personal accounts.

All of these transactions were unauthorized by the company owners.

Lifshitz was terminated by the company in September of 2022 and the same day he was fired, he unsuccessfully tried to deposit two additional company checks into his personal bank accounts — but he had already been removed as an authorized signatory on the company accounts.

The founders of the company reported the theft to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office shortly after Lifshitz was terminated.

County detectives reviewed the checking accounts and determined Lifshitz's thefts occcurred over a period of roughly two years, from September of 2020 through September of 2022.

Lifshitz was represented by Charles Uliano, Esq. of West Long Branch.