Windsor Resident Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Defrauding Employer and its Lender of More than $700K

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MARGARET BOISTURE, 51, of Windsor, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to 33 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for defrauding her former employer and one of its lenders of more than $700,000.  Judge Williams also ordered Boisture to pay a $7,100 fine and to make full restitution.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Boisture functioned as the chief financial employee of ZoneFlow Reactor Technologies, a pre-revenue company in the business of developing and commercializing a new technology that improves the efficiency of the production of hydrogen.  PayPal marketed and serviced commercial loans from WebBank, a third-party lender.  Between approximately October 2016 and February 2020, Boisture defrauded ZoneFlow, PayPal and WebBank by diverting ZoneFlow money to herself; taking unauthorized loans that caused ZoneFlow to pay additional interest expense; and making misrepresentations to PayPal and WebBank to induce them to make unauthorized loans to ZoneFlow that expanded the pool of money from which Boisture could take.

In total, Boisture’s criminal conduct caused losses of $632,159.78 to ZoneFlow and $78,088.76 to PayPal and WebBank.

On July 19, 2022, Boisture pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

Boisture, who is released on a $500,000 bond, is required to report to prison on March 13.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Novick.