Roberta Czap Charged in $6.1M Wire Fraud Scheme

Roberta Czap, 66, of Newark, Delaware, is accused of stealing $6.1 million from her employer through a years-long wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors announced today. The indictment unsealed in Wilmington charges Czap with wire fraud, identity theft, multiple money laundering counts, and tax offenses—all stemming from a brazen theft that gutted her financial services company from within.

Between 2011 and 2016, Czap, an employee in the accounting department of a Newark-based financial firm, allegedly orchestrated nearly 500 fraudulent electronic transfers from the company’s operating account into her personal bank accounts. Using another employee’s identifying information, she forged payment requests made to appear as legitimate vendor disbursements. Authorized with her own company credentials, the transfers went undetected for years while Czap lived off the stolen funds.

Not only did Czap funnel millions into her own pockets, but she also filed false federal tax returns for 2013, 2014, and 2015—deliberately omitting the illegal income and substantially underreporting her earnings. Federal tax law requires all income, legal or not, to be reported. By hiding the theft, she compounded her crimes with federal tax offenses.

Between January 2013 and July 2016, Czap and her husband pulled approximately $2.7 million in cash from casinos across Delaware and other states. A regular gambler, Czap frequently withdrew large sums after play, then laundered about $1.2 million by depositing it into two bank accounts under her husband’s name—further attempting to conceal the origin of the illicit funds.

“Defendant’s attempts to conceal the source of her illegal income made detection of the fraud more challenging,” said U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly, III. “But the diligent and thorough investigative work of law enforcement uncovered the significant fraud perpetrated not only against the victim company, but the American people.”

The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf is prosecuting. If convicted, Czap faces up to 20 years in prison on wire fraud and money laundering charges, a mandatory additional two years for identity theft, and up to three years on tax counts. The indictment contains allegations only; Czap is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.