Press Releases
FORMER LAW FIRM ADMINISTRATOR SENTENCED TO 18 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
February 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LISA MAYERHAFER, age 43, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced today by U. S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to eighteen (18) months in federal prison for embezzling money from her former employer, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, the defendant was ordered to pay full restitution. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Zainey imposed five (5) years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment. During the five-year term, the defendant will be under federal supervision and risks an additional term of imprisonment should she violate any terms of her supervised release.
MAYERHAFER pled guilty to bank fraud on November 1, 2007. According to court documents, she previously worked as an office administrator for the New Orleans law firm, Gertler, Gertler, Vincent and Plotkin, LLP., from 1997 through April 2007. MAYERHAFER devised a scheme to siphon money out of the firm’s operating account, by underreporting the amount of money that she actually deposited into the firm’s bank account, and then recorded that lower amount onto the firm’s ledger. This allowed her to steal the difference and also to balance the account.
This scheme to defraud was executed when MAYERHAFER forged law firm partner signatures onto firm checks, made them payable to herself, and then deposited them into her personal bank account. MAYERHAFER further concealed the scheme by retrieving the firm’s monthly bank statements, and then destroyed the copies of the cancelled checks that she made payable to herself with the forged signatures. More than 150 checks were forged, which resulted in MAYERHAFER embezzling approximately $220,000 during her employment at Gertler. By forging the signatures on these stolen checks and making the funds available for withdrawal, she exposed her bank to a risk of civil liability and financial loss.
The law firm’s trust account, which holds funds belonging to clients, was never compromised
The investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Jon Maestri.
