| A former financial officer of a Boston-based nonprofit was arrested yesterday and charged in connection with a fraud and embezzlement scheme that that netted over $1.3 million.
Nicole Lescarbeau, 51, of Canton, was charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday with three counts of wire fraud, five counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Lescarbeau was arrested and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein.
Lescarbeau was the financial officer of a small, Boston-based nonprofit organization. Her duties included managing incoming invoices, paying bills by check and wire transfer, using and paying credit cards, financial account maintenance and bookkeeping. As a result, Lescarbeau had access to the nonprofit’s checkbook, bookkeeping and accounting software, and online bank accounts.
Lescarbeau allegedly stole funds from the nonprofit for her personal use from August 2013 until her termination in January 2018. Specifically, Lescarbeau allegedly wrote unauthorized checks to herself using the nonprofit’s accounting software and affixed the signatures of the authorized signers on the account.
It is also alleged that Lescarbeau repeatedly logged on to the nonprofit’s online bank accounts and directed unauthorized payments and transfers for her personal benefit, and that she made unauthorized personal charges using the nonprofit’s business credit cards. In total, Lescarbeau embezzled nearly $1.4 million from the organization.
