Gomidas Garabed Hartounian, 52, of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, is going to prison for stealing millions from the company that trusted him with its books. The former chief financial officer of a North Jersey business was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for wire fraud and tax evasion, marking the end of a years-long scheme that gutted his employer and cheated the IRS.
Hartounian, once the top financial official at ‘Company A’ in Englewood, exploited his position from April 2007 through April 2014 by funneling company money into his own pocket. Using MGB LLC — a shell vendor he secretly owned and operated from his home — he directed employees to issue checks for fake freight services. When questioned, he claimed invoices were ‘in his office,’ but no legitimate work was ever performed.
Because he lacked sole signatory power, Hartounian resorted to forgery — slapping fake signatures of the CEO and COO onto checks before depositing them into accounts he controlled. He also had Company A pay his personal bills directly, including $6,562 in real estate taxes to the Borough of Franklin Lakes in August 2011. The fraud went undetected for years, enabled by his access and authority.
On top of the theft, Hartounian lied to the federal government. He filed a false 2012 tax return, failing to report $1.29 million in illicit income from MGB LLC. Instead, he claimed his income was just $133,290 — a lie that added a tax evasion charge to his growing list of crimes. He pleaded guilty to both counts in federal court before Judge Peter G. Sheridan, who handed down the sentence in Trenton.
The fallout is costly: Hartounian must pay $4,117,463 in restitution — $3.5 million to the defrauded company and $617,463 to the IRS. He’ll also serve three years of supervised release after prison, with strict financial monitoring. The case was investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agents in Charge Timothy Gallagher and Jonathan D. Larsen in Newark.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana W. Chen prosecuted the case as part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, a sweeping federal initiative targeting financial crimes. Defense counsel was Alan Silber, Esq., of Roseland, New Jersey. The message is clear: even behind spreadsheets and signatures, crime doesn’t hide forever.
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Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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