WILMINGTON, Del. - David C. Weiss, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that Roberta Czap, age 67, formerly of Newark, was sentenced on Nov. 13, 2017, by Chief U. S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark to 48 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release. In addition, Defendant will be required to forfeit more than $1 million in assets that represent the proceeds of her crimes.
The sentencing came after Ms. Czap pleaded guilty on June 1, 2017 to one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of making false statements on tax returns.
Beginning in January 2011 and through August 2016, while employed as the Vice President of Accounting at a financial services company in Newark, defendant made 497 separate fraudulent ACH transactions from the company’s accounts into her personal bank accounts. Defendant disguised these transactions, ranging from $1,000 to $38,527, as payments to corporate health insurance payments or payments to corporate marketers and altered the company’s general ledger to further conceal her actions. In total, Ms. Czap obtained more than $6.1 million through her fraud. Following the misappropriation of funds from the corporation, Ms. Czap converted these electronic transfers to cash, through either ATM withdrawals or cash advances at several casinos. After gambling, often briefly, defendant would cash out at the casino and receive United States Currency. Federal law requires that all income, whether obtained legally or illegally be declared on tax returns. However, Ms. Czap failed to report the proceeds of her fraud on her tax return for years 2013 through 2015.
Between April 2014 and September 2016, defendant’s husband made a series of structured cash deposits totaling $1,212,910, in increments approaching, but of less than $10,000. He was previously sentenced to a year and a day of imprisonment for his conduct in a separate criminal action, United States v. Matthew Czap, 17-4-LPS.
Acting U.S. Attorney Weiss stated, “Defendant’s conduct, which the Court accurately described as a ‘brazen and long-running fraud’ not only violated the law, but the trust of her employers and colleagues. She compounded her crimes by laundering the proceeds of her fraud and attempting to conceal the money from the government. Defendant’s desire to enrich herself at the cost of others represents serious criminal conduct that cannot be overlooked. Ms. Czap’s 4-year prison sentence should serve as a warning to others contemplating similar crimes that such conduct will eventually catch up with you and you will be held accountable."
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lesley Wolf. Acting U.S. Attorney Weiss thanked the investigators for their excellent work in pursuing this investigation and for identifying assets acquired through defendant’s fraud. The government anticipates that these assets will be provided as partial restitution to the victims.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
