Kathleen Creel, Defrauding Shipping Company, Texas 2014

State: Texas
Category: White Collar Crime
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/former-executive-indicted-defrauding-shipping-company-more-4-million" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

Feds Uncover $4.1 Million Shipping Company Scam in Texas

A former executive of Wilhelmsen Ships Service Inc. has been charged with defrauding her company of more than $4.1 million in a brazen scheme that spanned six years, according to federal authorities.

Kathleen Creel, 43, of Houston, was employed as the customs and tax manager at Wilhelmsen’s Pasadena headquarters, where she had access to sensitive financial information, including billing records and bank account details for the company’s vendors.

Between June 2003 and August 2009, Creel allegedly used her position to embezzle millions from Wilhelmsen’s bank accounts, creating fake invoices and causing wire transfers to flow into her own bank account.

The indictment, returned under seal on April 9, 2014, alleges that Creel carried out the scheme by creating false invoices from two Wilhelmsen vendors, identified as Vendor A and Vendor B, and entering them into the company’s accounting system for approval and payment.

Creel allegedly used the scheme to collect physical checks from a vendor, which she then arranged to be mailed to a Post Office box in La Porte, which she controlled, and deposited them into her bank account.

The FBI is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pearson. If convicted, Creel faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the 10 wire fraud counts, as well as a $250,000 maximum fine or twice the pecuniary gain or loss.

Creel is currently being held in New York, where she was arrested by federal authorities upon the unsealing of the indictment. Her initial appearance is set to take place in Houston in the near future.

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