South Jordan Woman Sentenced for $462K Money Laundering

Monica Paris, the 31-year-old South Jordan woman who pleaded guilty to money laundering, is facing a harsh comeuppance. The federal judge has sentenced her to 30 months in federal prison for her crime of embezzling over $462,000 from Ultradent Products, Inc.

Paris, who was terminated from her position as assistant to the director of major accounts at Ultradent in early 2012, is set to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on November 5, 2013. Her supervised release will follow her prison term for an additional 36 months after her release.

The judge also ordered Paris to pay full restitution of $462,455.80, ensuring that the victimized company gets every cent back. The embezzlement scheme was discovered when Paris used funds from Ultradent to pay off a car loan, and the truth spilled out like a bad financial secret.

According to court documents, Paris’s deceit began around August 2010. She fraudulently submitted expense reports for personal reimbursement payments for items she never purchased. The scheme involved using company funds to buy personal items, including large amounts of pre-paid credit cards, and directing the reimbursements to her own bank account.

Paris also admitted to using the Sam’s Club membership of two other Ultradent employees to make purchases with their credit cards. She then submitted false invoices for these purchases as company expenses, creating a false trail of company spending that led only to debt and deceit.

This case is another reminder that financial crimes can have severe consequences, even for those in seemingly mundane positions. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City is prosecuting this case with special agents from the IRS Criminal Investigation division watching closely. Follow @DUTnews for more on this gritty tale of white-collar crime.