Technology

Law Firm Executive Indicted For Stealing From Firm

He allegedly took almost a million dollars from the firm.

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$900,000. That’s how much money the Chief Technology Officer of the regional law firm Budd Larner, along with an accomplice, have been accused of bilking from the firm. According to court documents, Rocco Romeo, along with a co-defendant, Jacqueline Galler, used his position at the firm to run a three-year-long fake invoice scheme. They’ve been indicted on four charges, including wire fraud and money laundering-related charges.

As reported by New York Law Journal, prosecutors believe Romeo created fraudulent invoices that the firm then paid online:

The scheme, prosecutors claim, started with Romeo receiving invoices generated by a company that went by several versions of the name Seventech. The invoices were routed through two online payment platforms, FreshBooks and PayPal, and sent directly to Romeo.

Authorities say Galler handled the funds once the firm paid them, and that both defendants used the money to pay personal expenses. A lawyer for Galler said his client is working with the government, and that she’s a victim in the scheme.

UPDATE: The charges against Galler were dismissed in May 2019.

The government says the Seventech company that Budd Larner paid was a fiction created by the defendants. Romeo allegedly went to great lengths in order to keep the scheme under wraps:

When asked by Budd Larner about the nature of the company, Romeo allegedly painted the company as a Silicon Valley tech firm with employees operating under a nondisclosure agreement with former employers. This, prosecutors say Romeo claimed, was why all communications need to go through him directly.

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Though the firm has not made an official comment on the case, they aren’t exactly taking the alleged theft lying down. As the Journal reports, just this week partner Philip Chronakis filed a civil RICO complaint against both Romeo and Galler on behalf of the firm.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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