Olivia Kuehner, Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, South Dakota 2019

Rapid City Woman Sentenced for Defrauding the Rapid City Club for Boys

A Rapid City woman was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in connection with a scheme to defraud the Rapid City Club for Boys.

Olivia Kuehner, 49, was sentenced on June 19, 2019, by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court, for her role in devising a scheme to defraud the organization between September 2012 and June 2017.

According to the investigation, Kuehner, who was employed as the accounting manager for the Rapid City Club for Boys, Inc., embezzled money belonging to the organization by making fraudulent payments to herself, family members, and a nominee entity she controlled.

Kuehner also omitted the fraudulent payments from the Club for Boys' accounting records, or misclassified the payments to make it appear vendors or other employees had been paid. After receiving the fraudulently obtained funds, Kuehner transferred a portion of the funds to other bank accounts she controlled in order to conceal the nature, source, and ownership of the embezzled proceeds.

In addition to her embezzlement at the Club for Boys, Kuehner also stole more than $20,000 from Collins Siding, where she was employed after she left the Club for Boys.

Kuehner was ordered to pay $160,380.16 in restitution to the Rapid City Club for Boys, $20,481.71 in restitution to Collins Siding, and $54,298.00 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. She was also ordered to pay a $300 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Patterson prosecuted the case.

Kuehner was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sd/pr/rapid-city-woman-sentenced-defrauding-rapid-city-club-boys