California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a civil lawsuit Thursday alleging fraud and other financial misconduct by six San Diego County residents who allegedly took part in a $3.8 million scheme that involved pocketing charitable funds that were earned by selling concessions at Petco Park and Snapdragon Stadium.
The two lead defendants named in the civil case, Noly Hermoso Ilarde and Martin Jose Rebollo Jr., recently pleaded guilty to criminal charges in San Diego federal court, admitting that they ran a fake charity to carry out the fraud scheme and personally took more than $2 million in funds derived from it.
The new lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, alleges that four other individuals, including Ilarde’s wife and sister, also took part in the scheme by posing as unpaid volunteers when in reality they received tens of thousands of dollars from the alleged charity…
THE ISUZU MOTORS PAYROLL FRAUD (GQEBERHA, SA)
Date: February 16, 2026 Perpetrator: Natasja Slabbert (42)
Case Description: In a case that hit home for the Eastern Cape business community, Natasja Slabbert, a payroll administrator at Isuzu Motors South Africa’s Struandale plant, was arrested for an alleged R10.5 million fraud. The scheme, which began surfacing in late 2024, exploited the very systems designed to manage employee compensation. Slabbert allegedly manipulated payroll records to create false entries that appeared as legitimate deductions and contributions on employee payslips. In reality, these “deductions” were being diverted into her personal bank account.
The fraud was only uncovered after diligent employees noticed that their net “take-home” pay was significantly lower than expected, despite the gross amounts on their payslips remaining high. Following a thorough probe by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and the NPA’s Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, it was discovered that in August 2024 alone, over R626,000 was unlawfully transferred. Slabbert was granted bail of R5,000 on February 17, 2026, and the case has been postponed to later in the month for further legal proceedings. This case highlights the critical need for “segregation of duties” in payroll departments, as a single point of failure allowed for the systematic siphoning of millions over nearly two years.
Link to Original: PE Express – Isuzu Payroll Fraud