A federal judge has sentenced a Sudbury bookkeeper to prison for embezzling over $180,000 from a Lexington interior design firm, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 15, 2023, 51-year-old Christina Iannelli pleaded guilty to seven counts of bank fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced her to two years in prison, three years of supervised release and to pay over $185,00 in restitution and forfeiture.
The charges stem from Iannelli’s work as an independent contractor for a Lexington interior design firm, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Beginning around October 2018, she prepared dozens of fraudulent invoices with inflated totals for the firm, and then issued herself checks from the firm’s checking account.
Additionally, beginning around July 2019, Iannelli issued herself dozens of unauthorized checks from the firm’s accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. During both periods, she used a signature stamp in the name of the firm’s owner to issue the fraudulent checks and made false entries in the firm’s accounting records to conceal her crimes.
In total, Iannelli embezzled over $30,000 through inflated compensation checks and more than $150,000 through the unauthorized checks, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release. She was arrested and charged in March 2022.