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Donna Laansma, 57, Charged with Embezzling $1.8 Million from Astea
PHILADELPHIA – In a shocking case of corporate greed, Donna Laansma, the former Financial Controller of Astea, a global management software company based in Horsham, PA, has been charged with wire fraud and tax evasion in connection with a scheme to embezzle over $1.8 million from her former employer.
According to the charges, Laansma, a Certified Public Accountant and familiar with the tax code, obtained a corporate credit card that she kept hidden from senior management. Between November 2014 and November 2020, the defendant is charged with using the secret card to spend over $1.8 million on personal expenditures such as her son’s college tuition, monthly payments on her personal bank accounts, vacations, shoes, groceries, furniture, and gift cards.
Laansma is also charged with using her position as Financial Controller to pay down the corporate card bills, and falsely recording these payments as legitimate business expenses in company books. The secret corporate credit card was discovered in 2020, after Astea was acquired by another global enterprise software company.
Laansma, who was responsible for managing the company’s finances worldwide, is accused of swindling almost two million dollars from her former employer, covering her tracks so well that her fraud was only discovered when the company was acquired.
“This defendant allegedly swindled almost two million dollars from her former employer, covering her tracks so well that her fraud was only discovered when the company was acquired,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “Instead of doing the right thing and performing her job honestly as the company’s controller, she chose the greedy path. Our Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect innocent individuals and businesses from being victimized by financial fraud.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Jeanette Kang. If convicted, Laansma faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, three years of supervised release, a special assessment and an order of restitution.
Laansma is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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