A Florida man was arrested and charged for allegedly embezzling $4 million from his employer, a Florida-based portfolio company owned by a Massachusetts investment firm.
Paul Schnitzer, 51, of Clermont, Fla., was charged with one count of wire fraud.
Schnitzer was arrested Tuesday morning and appeared in the Middle District of Florida on Wednesday. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
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According to the charging document, Schnitzer worked as the finance director for the portfolio company.
It is alleged that between January 2023 and May 2024, Schnitzer made over 90 transfers, each of tens of thousands of dollars disguised as “equity distributions,” from the company’s operating account into his personal account.
To hide these transfers, Schnitzer allegedly provided falsified financial reports with inflated cash balances for the company to the investment firm.
It is also alleged that Schnitzer secretly used a line of credit to replenish the company’s operating account after he had stolen from it.
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The charge of wire fraud provides a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes, which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
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