Accountant Goes Rogue

Chelsea Jolynn Tucker, the accountant for a contract services and staffing  company in Texas, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and to defrauding her employer.

 

Tucker was responsible for  making employment tax deposits, handling payroll, preparing W-2 forms and paying business expenses. After working at the company since 1997, she began paying herself as both an employee and a vendor in 2012. She gave herself unauthorized bonuses and fake reimbursements, used a corporate credit card for personal purchases and used company funds to pay personal credit cards.

 

In order to avoid her tax obligations she prepared false W-2 forms for herself that underreported her income to the IRS. Tucker also failed to pay the employment taxes for the company.

 

Tucker was sentenced to 14 months and 23 days in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $779,664.