A former senior executive at the Atlanta Housing Authority has been sentenced to federal prison after prosecutors said she used her position to steal housing assistance funds, pandemic relief money and commit mortgage fraud.
Tracy Denise Jones, 61, of Atlanta, was sentenced May 20, to nine months in prison, followed by nine months of home detention and 15 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $65,598.80 in restitution and a $63,546 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Jones previously pleaded guilty on Feb. 2 to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, wire fraud and credit application fraud.
Federal prosecutors said Jones, who served since 2017 as senior vice president over the Housing Choice Voucher Program at the Atlanta Housing Authority, used her role overseeing one of the nation’s largest Section 8 programs…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.