Franklin Lakes Man Sentenced To 3 Years For Embezzling $3.5M From Company

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. — A borough man was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for embezzling $3.5 million from a Bergen County company over the course of seven years, authorities said.

Gomidas Garabed Hartounian, 52, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan.

From April 2007 through April 2014, Hartounian was CFO for an Englewood company that did business with MGB LLC, a company registered to his residence, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

Hartounian admitted he fraudulently designated MGB as a vendor in his company's accounting system without telling his employer that he controlled it, Fishman said. He had company employees issue checks to MGB for freight services that MGB supposedly provided to the company and claimed he was keeping MGB's invoices in his office, the attorney said.

Hartounian forged the signatures of the CEO or COO before depositing checks into his bank accounts, Fishman said. He also had checks issued directly from his employer's bank accounts to pay for personal expenses, including $6,500 in real estate taxes in 2011, Fishman said.

Hartounian also admitted falsifying tax returns for 2012 and not reporting nearly $1.3 million in income as the owner of MGB; he listed his income as $133,290 for 2012, Fishman said.

In addition to the three-year prison term, Hartounian must also pay more than $4.1 million in restitution, including $3.5 million to the company and $617,000 to the IRS, and serve three years of supervised released, Fishman said.

The case was brought in coordination with President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which was established to wage "an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive" effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.

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