Former CEO of Connecticut Non-Profit Admits Embezzling $683K

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that MICHAEL MEAKEM, 59, of Norwich, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to one count of wire fraud stemming from an embezzlement scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Meakem was the president and chief executive officer of the Center for Financial Training (“CFT”), a Farmington-based non-profit organization that provided continuing education to employees in the financial services industry.  Between approximately 2013 and 2020, Meakem embezzled at least $683,202 from CFT’s credit card accounts and bank accounts and used the funds on personal expenses, including alimony payments, meals, cruises, other vacations, and gambling at Connecticut’s casinos.

Wire fraud carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.  Meakem is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea on August 3, 2021.

Meakem was ordered released by Magistrate Judge Sarah A.L. Merriam on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing.

This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Norwich Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan N. Francis, and the government was represented at today's hearing by Law Student Intern Clio Koller.