Office manager at law firm accused of stealing $1.2M
by: Melissa Moon
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former office manager for a Memphis law firm is accused of going on a shopping spree with the company credit card, spending $1.25 million over a two-year period.
A federal grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee recently returned an indictment charging Catherine Corrine Daly, 54, with embezzlement.
Reagan Fondren, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the indictment Thursday.
According to the indictment, while Daly was employed by a local law firm, she had access to the firm’s bank accounts, including the firm’s operating account, which was used to pay the firm’s operating expenses. The operating account was at a Memphis branch of what was then known as SunTrust Bank.
Investigators said Daly had two American Express charge accounts in her name, and a total of five AmEx charge cards were issued through the two accounts to Daly and two of her relatives.
They said the cards were used to purchase clothing, shoes, designer handbags, jewelry, furnishings for Daly’s residence, and food at restaurants. Daly is also accused of using the cards for personal services at nail and beauty salons and travel expenses.
As these charges were made, Daly is alleged to have used the money in the firm’s operating account to pay the amounts due on her personal AmEx charge accounts. She allegedly conducted the embezzlement scheme from June 2019 until October 2021 and made multiple payments on her personal AmEx bills directly from the law firm’s operating account.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that by using this method, Daly embezzled and converted $1,289,085 of the law firm’s funds to her own use.
Daly is charged with six counts of violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 2314. This statute makes it a crime to transfer money in interstate commerce that has been “stolen, converted or taken by fraud.”
Each count of the indictment is punishable by a term of up to 10 years of imprisonment, a fine of no more than $250,000, or both, as well as a term of court-supervised release of no more than three years.
The United States Secret Service is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joe Murphy for the Western District of Tennessee.