A 51-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in federal prison for defrauding the Chicago company where he worked out of more than $1 million, according to the FBI.
As office manager, Robert Wilborn made payments to vendors and handled the company’s ledger, sending payment records to their accountant, according to a federal criminal complaint. Authorities didn’t name the company, but Wilborn’s LinkedIn profile indicates he was working for a business-to-business media organization for the food and hospitality industries.
Between December 2003 and April 2015, Wilborn took blank, signed checks, provided by the company in case of emergency, and signed them to himself without permission, prosecutors said. The checks totaled about $1,008,513.
The Chicago resident then deposited the checks into his two personal checking accounts and used the money for his own benefit, prosecutors said. Wilborn kept track of the fraudulent checks in the company’s general ledger, claiming they were paid to legitimate vendors.
He then mailed the false information in the ledger to an accountant in southwest suburban Mokena, who was preparing the company’s tax returns, prosecutors said.
Wilborn pleaded guilty in federal court March 2 to a single count of mail fraud, the FBI said. He was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution.
