A New York woman who worked as a personal assistant pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Wednesday for a scheme in which she stole $10 million from her elderly employers, one of whom was a retired Salomon Brothers investment banker who died two years before the fraud was stopped.
The woman, Catalina Corona, blew some of the stolen money on luxury goods from Gucci, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and to pay off her credit card debt, prosecutors said.
Corona, 62, faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 30 years in the case, the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Corona was accused of using fraudulent checks and impersonating her employers to defraud Richard Schmeelk and his wife,…
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.