A Tongan woman in the United States has been sentenced to four-years imprisonment for embezzling her Italian employer out of millions of dollars.
Vika Latai Moa worked remotely as an Operations Manager for Savino Del Bene USA, Inc. (Savino USA), an overseas trucking logistics operation out of Grapevine between June 2016 and October 2019.
Working remotely, prosecutors say Moa was pretty much on her own as a bookkeeper for the company, and that was fertile ground for mischief.
According to Kaniva News, court records show that Moa used fake invoices to overbill the company, who then paid more than $2.6 million into a bank account that she had access to.
She pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges last year and was sentenced to 4 years in prison on Friday.
As part of the plea agreement, she also agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $2,623,888.44.
Savino USA, headquartered in New Jersey, is the American subsidiary of Savino Del Bene S.p.A., a global logistics and freight forwarding company based in Florence, Italy.
Among other things, Savino USA provides transportation services to its customers in the United States by subcontracting local deliveries to third-party trucking companies.
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