Joshua S. Levy, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
A Northborough resident, Kyriakos Kapiris, also known as Rick Kapiris, has been sentenced to two years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. The sentencing took place in federal court in Worcester, where U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman also ordered five years of supervised release following the prison term and restitution of $371,088.97.
Kapiris had pleaded guilty in June 2022 to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering after embezzling approximately $366,477 from Venture Community Services (VCS), a non-profit organization based in Sturbridge that aids developmentally disabled individuals.
During his tenure as Information Technology Manager at VCS from April 2015 to May 2020, Kapiris misused company credit cards meant for purchasing equipment and services. Starting in 2016, he established three vendor accounts on Square and Amazon under the guise of legitimate Massachusetts companies and used them to embezzle funds. He fabricated sales invoices to cover up the fraudulent activities.
The funds were transferred into several personal accounts at Bank of America and were used by Kapiris for personal expenses, including building a house that was later forfeited by the government.
At the sentencing hearing, it was revealed that Kapiris had a prior conviction for theft from a previous employer and was on probation when he committed the offenses against VCS.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Boston Division. The case received support from both the Sturbridge and Northborough Police Departments and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lucy Sun and Kristen Noto from the Worcester Branch Office.
