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The former executive assistant of a Waltham-based technology company was arrested Wednesday and charged in connection with a fraud and embezzlement scheme that netted over $3 million.
Shivani Patel, 37, of Vineyard Haven, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of bank fraud.
Patel was executive assistant to the CFO of a Waltham-based technology company, according to the criminal complaint. Her duties included retrieving incoming mail containing customer checks made payable to her employer, recording the checks into the payment system and depositing the checks into her employer’s bank account.
Patel allegedly stole funds from her then employer for her personal use from at least February 2012 through July 2017. Patel created a company with a name identical her employer’s name but with an “s” added to the end and opened a business banking account in the sham company’s name in February 2012.
Thereafter, prosecutors said Patel began taking customer checks payable to her employer out of the mail, depositing those checks into the sham company’s bank account, and concealing her embezzlement by making false entries in her employer’s billing system. In total, Patel embezzled nearly $3.1 million from her former employer.
