Former Atlanta-based accountant convicted of stealing $800K from elderly Dallas woman
By Joyce Lupiani
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ATLANTA (WGCL) — An Atlanta accountant has pleaded guilty to stealing $800,000 from an elderly client, according to U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine, Northern District of Georgia.
The FBI says 52-year-old Heidi Royal of Dallas, who was employed at an Atlanta-based wealth management firm, convinced an elderly client that she was a “close friend” who had the client’s best interest in mind.
The elderly client is a widow, identified only as C.K., who suffers from dementia.
Royal had access to the widow’s Social Security number and the usernames and passwords for her investment accounts and bank accounts.
As part of her duties and responsibilities at the firm, Royal provided professional accounting services and bill-pay services to C.K. for more than 10 years. During that time, Royal gained C.K.’s trust and developed a close personal friendship with her. Royal even told a co-worker at the firm that C.K. was like a grandmother to her.
However, Royal reportedly stole C.K.’s annuity payments, wrote more than 200 fraudulent checks, forged the widow’s signature, withdrew cash from C.K.’s bank accounts, fraudulently used the electronic bill-pay feature to divert money to herself, used PayPal to make payments to herself, impersonated C.K. on the telephone, and made false and misleading entries in C.K.’s financial records.
In addition, Royal fraudulently used C.K.’s name and Social Security Number to open a secret bank account for the purpose of concealing and disguising the fraud proceeds.
In mid-March 2021, when the firm learned that checks drawn on C.K.’s bank accounts had been deposited into Royal’s personal accounts, the firm immediately terminated Royal and reported the matter to law enforcement.
From approximately June 1, 2010, through March 17, 2021, however, Royal misappropriated approximately $800,000 of C.K.’s money and converted it to her own use.
Royal pled guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Sentencing is scheduled for May 31.
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