A Salt Lake City woman has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after admitting to embezzling nearly $1.4 million from her employer, a Utah-based lending services company.
Benedicta Okunlola, 32, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in November 2025. U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby also ordered Okunlola to pay $1,398,014 in restitution, including a lump sum payment of $5,000 at or before sentencing. After her release from prison, she will serve three years of supervised release.
Court records show that between 2020 and 2025, Okunlola worked as a Merchant Growth Specialist and used her access to the company’s credit card for marketing purposes to issue 2,343 prepaid gift cards for personal use. She directed these cards to herself, her online art business, and family members. Okunlola was the only employee authorized to purchase such gift cards for customer incentives and kept individual purchases below thresholds that would have triggered secondary approval.
Investigators found that she spent the funds on rent, online shopping, groceries, rideshares, dining out, and travel to countries including South Korea, Japan, South Africa, and Portugal.
“Okunlola stole from her employer to fund her jet-setting lifestyle,” said U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah. “It is our hope that her sentence will serve as deterrent from others thinking about engaging in fraud. By teaming up with our law enforcement partners we will continue to investigate and prosecute these cases.”
Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls of the Salt Lake City FBI added: “Benedicta Okunlola’s actions were not a mistake or a lapse in judgement. It was a deliberate scheme driven by greed,” he said. “The defendant violated a position of trust and caused real financial harm to her employer. This FBI remains committed to investigating complex financial crimes and holding offenders accountable.”
The FBI Salt Lake City Field Office led the investigation into the case. Assistant United States Attorney Luisa Gough prosecuted the matter.
