Couple Sentenced For Embezzling Nearly $1 Million From Nassau Company

A paralegal from Queens now living in Las Vegas was sentenced to two to six years in prison for embezzling nearly $1 million from a Lynbrook-based construction company.

In addition to her prison sentence, Linda Minervini, 54, will also have to pay $456,617.15 in restitution. Her husband, Thomas Cacaci, Jr., 38, was sentenced on Aug. 2 and ordered to pay back $456,617.95. So far, he has repaid $70,000.

The couple pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny on June 6.

"This sentence holds accountable thieves who used a Nassau construction company’s bank account as a personal slush fund to support their extravagant lifestyle," Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. "This prosecution should send a strong message that those who steal from Nassau businesses will face serious consequences."

Minervini was employed as a paralegal for the construction company. As part of her responsibilities, she was authorized to settle liability construction claims that were less than $10,000 and obtained general releases of liability from the claimants involved and sent them their settlement checks.

Between October 2009 and November 2015, Minervini embezzled $913,315.89 from the company by creating checks to pay claims that did not actually exist. The checks were then signed by the owner, who did not know they were fraudulent, and altered by adding other payees to them without the knowledge or consent of her employer. At the beginning of the scheme, many of the checks were made out to Cacaci, who cashed many of them at a check cashing business, and then later assisted in depositing checks into the account of a corporation he and Minervini formed in 2010 in the name of New York Emergency & First Response Inc. (NYEFR).

The scheme was discovered in November 2015 when the office manager of the company became suspicious because the quantity of checks generated for these settlements was much greater than what the company was expecting concerning these claimants. Minervini was subsequently fired.

The couple spent the money on a lavish time share. They also spent it on expenses related to Cacaci’s parents’ Las Vegas home, household furnishings, automobiles, legal fees, airline tickets, hotel lodging and other daily living expenses.

The couple lived in Las Vegas, where they moved to after living in Queens, and were arrested by Las Vegas Police on Dec. 9, 2015. They waived extradition and were transported by district attorney investigators to New York to face the charges.

Photos: Nassau County District Attorney's Office