A previous finance director was sentenced to a few years and 5 months in prison Tuesday for embezzling a lot more than $3 million from two Seattle nonprofits that aimed to divert youth from imprisonment and deliver health treatment to underserved individuals.
Susana Tantico, 63, from Renton, pleaded responsible to two counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in May well. Tantico embezzled cash from State Health care provider Community Health Centers and Neighborhood Passageways about 11 a long time, in accordance to a information release, and spent the cash on luxurious outfits, gambling, vacations and her home loan.
“This was tough, this betrayal of trust,” Community Passageways founder Dominique Davis mentioned during the sentencing, according to a news release. “It pretty much ruined our entire corporation. We scarcely survived this. We were being produced out to be villains.”
Tantico worked at Nation Doctor Community Overall health Centers, a Seattle nonprofit that offers wellness services to lower-income individuals, from 1999 to 2020. U.S. lawyers alleged she commenced embezzling the nonprofit considering that at least 2011, but that bank records were being only available likely again to December 2016. Within just 4 decades, she stole just about $2.3 million, according to the news launch from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle. She withdrew around $1.5 million from the organization’s accounts at casinos and spent tens of countless numbers at Nordstrom and Apple merchants, prosecutors stated.
In 2017 and 2018, she put in in excess of $50,000 of the nonprofit’s revenue on outings to Disney Environment, San Diego and Las Vegas, in accordance to prosecutors. In the nonprofit’s ledger, she entered wrong payments for health-related provides, according to the paperwork.
In June 2020, Tantico resigned from Place Medical doctor Community Well being Centers and started doing work as director of finance for Neighborhood Passageways, a nonprofit centered on avoiding youthful individuals from getting incarcerated. She stole almost $893,000 from the nonprofit, prosecutors say. The nonprofit has also expended above $100,000 to audit its books and take care of its accounting treatments and information.
When a single of the organization’s financial institutions questioned about all the withdrawals at casinos, prosecutors explained she claimed the nonprofit held youth applications at casinos.
In recommending a 41-thirty day period sentence, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Seth Wilkinson mentioned, “Tantico abused positions of belief.”
“Tantico was employed (two times) to safeguard the finances of her employers, and they trusted her to manage the money with integrity,” Wilkinson said. “Instead, Tantico not only stole the income, but used her position to disguise her theft.”
Tantico stole an ordinary of about $550,000 per yr among 2016 and 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Workplace.
In court docket Tuesday, Tantico stated, “It’s like I was two different men and women. … I usually meant to take care of it.”
Following serving the prison time period, Tantico will be on three years of supervised launch. A decide purchased her to pay back about $3 million in restitution. She presented the court with a $60,000 test from the sale of her dwelling, according to the information release.
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