Charlotte Woman Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison for $730,000 Mail Fraud Scheme

CHARLOTTE, NC—A Charlotte woman was sentenced on Tuesday, January 22, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney to 41 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for carrying out a six-year mail fraud scheme against her employer, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $737,733.

U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Roger A. Coe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Maureen Barbara Mallon, 67, of Charlotte, in July 2011 pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. Court documents show that Mallon was employed by an insurance company in Charlotte as the company’s accounts payable/receivable manager and later as its office manager. From 2004 to 2010, Mallon engaged in a scheme to defraud her employer, court records indicate. According to court documents, Mallon’s position at the insurance company gave her full access to the company’s operating account and made her responsible for various administrative and financial tasks, including processing invoices and remitting payments of insurance premiums to insurance companies underwriting client policies for Mallon’s employer.

Court records indicate that beginning in March 2004, Mallon began issuing duplicate insurance premium payments from her employer’s operating accounts. According to court documents, Mallon would mail one check to the underwriting insurance company and deposit a duplicate check into her personal bank account. Filed court documents show that the duplicate company check was usually made payable to “Amwins Brokerage of the Carolinas,” which was an underwriting insurance company that did business with Mallon’s employer. To facilitate the deposit of the fraudulent checks, Mallon changed the name on the personal bank account to “Maureen B Mallon DBA Amwins Brokerage,” court records show.

According to court records and proceedings, over the course of six years, Mallon deposited approximately $730,000 into her personal bank account and used the money for personal expenditures, including vehicle expenses and residential rental payments.

Mallon was ordered to self-report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin her sentence upon the designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark T. Odulio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.