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 - McDaniel fled to Costa Rica in early 2017 and arrested later that same year pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant filed by the United States. - A.M. Costa Rica illustrative photo - U.S. citizen arrested in Costa Rica sentenced to 10 years-plus for embezzling $36 million |
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Published
Monday, April 12, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A U.S. citizen surnamed McDaniel, 44, which was a former accounting manager in Los Angeles, California firm was sentenced on Friday to 126 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $36 million from his employer’s client and then using the bulk of the illicit gains to pay off tens of millions of dollars in credit card debt, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California said. According to the Justice Department, McDaniel fled to Costa Rica in early 2017. And arrested later that same year pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant filed by the United States. He was extradited to the U.S. in February 2019 and has been in custody ever since. McDaniel, who resided in Orange before fleeing the United States over four years ago, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt. McDaniel pleaded guilty in September 2019 to one count of wire fraud.  According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for more than seven years, McDaniel embezzled the funds from a media technology services firm based in downtown Los Angeles. He initially was an independent contractor for, and then an employee of another firm located downtown Los Angeles-based professional services firm that provided accounting assistance to the first company. McDaniel was assigned to work for the firm as an accounting manager. As part of his job, he would request payments to be made from the company account to pay its vendors. While working McDaniel formed a Nevada corporation with a name like the main company then opened a bank account – which he controlled – in that entity’s name. He then used his authority as accounting manager to approve and direct tens of millions of dollars worth of payments to this bank account, the Justice Department said in its statement. To justify the payments, McDaniel created more than 100 false and fictitious invoices that appeared to be from the actual main company, falsely stating the goods and services had been provided to the company. In total, McDaniel fraudulently transferred by wire or check more than $36 million to the company bank account he controlled. He used the ill-gotten gains to pay off $23 million in credit card bills and transferred another $8 million to his personal bank accounts. As part of his sentence, McDaniel was ordered to pay $36,332,388 in restitution to the original company. Assistant United States Attorney Poonam G. Kumar of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case. ------------------- What have you heard about expats cheated by their accountant? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com Professional's
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