HONOLULU - Johanne P. Jarlego, 44, a resident of Kapolei, Hawaii, was arrested on June 26, 2017 as a result of a federal indictment charging her with bank fraud and tax offenses.
Elliot Enoki, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that a federal grand jury indicted Jarlego on June 21, 2017. The indictment charged that, between June 2008 and February 2015, Jarlego executed a scheme to defraud American Savings Bank. According to the indictment, Jarlego worked for a Hawaii company that published magazines. Jarlego handled accounts receivables, and was responsible for collecting and depositing checks made payable to her employer’s magazines for the purchase of advertising space. According to the indictment, Jarlego filed business registration paperwork with the State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, claiming she would do business in two trade names that were similar to the names of her employer’s magazines. Jarlego then opened two business accounts at American Savings Bank in those trade names.
The indictment alleges that Jarlego thereafter diverted checks made payable to those magazines, and deposited them into her two American Savings Bank accounts, falsely claiming that the payments were intended for her businesses. According to the indictment, between 2008 and 2014 Jarlego obtained approximately $3,833,640 by depositing her employer’s checks into the two American Savings Bank accounts, and then repaid $2,428,600 to conceal her activities. The indictment also alleges that Jarlego filed four false tax returns for calendar years 2011-2014, failing to report as income a total of $2,688,356 obtained from her bank fraud during those years.
The indictment charges Jarlego with 32 counts of bank fraud, and four counts of filing false tax returns. An indictment is merely an accusation, and Jarlego is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. If convicted of the charges, Jarlego faces up to thirty years’ of imprisonment, and a fine of up to $1,000,000 as to each of the bank fraud charges, and up to three years’ imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the tax charges.
Following her arrest, Jarlego was brought to federal court, where she pled not guilty to all charges. She was released on $50,000 bail, and ordered to appear for a jury trial on Aug. 29, 2017 before United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
