Former Scancarbon Employee Leslie Janous Pleads Guilty to $4 Million Embezzlement

KNOXVILLE, TN—Leslie Janous, of Knoxville, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering before the Honorable Leon Jordan, U.S. District Court Judge. The sentencing hearing for Janous was set for July 18, 2011, at 1:45 p.m.

Janous was indicted on October 5, 2010, on 13 counts of wire fraud. An information was filed on February 11, 2011, charging Janous with money laundering.

According to the plea agreement filed with the court, Janous was employed from 2004 through 2010, as a bookkeeper by Scancarbon, Inc., in Knoxville, Tennessee. She admitted that she used her position to embezzle at least $4 million from Scancarbon for her own use. In 2005, she set up a company entitled Lesleigh Enterprises, LLC and opened up a bank account that she controlled. Thereafter, she began making unauthorized wire transfers of funds from a bank account owned by Scancarbon to the Lesleigh bank account. Janous subsequently transferred the funds to other bank accounts that she owned. In order to prevent her embezzlement scheme from being detected, she created phony bank statements to present to Scancarbon’s management to misrepresent how the corporation’s funds were being spent.

Janous admitted during today’s plea hearing that in April 2010, she transferred $687,698.64 from Scancarbon’s account to Lesleigh’s bank account and then transferred these funds to Title Associates in Knoxville. These funds were used towards the purchase a piece of real property at 1308 Selby Lane, Knoxville, Tennessee.

As part of her plea agreement, Janous agreed to the forfeiture of her interests in three pieces of real property located in Knoxville, two vehicles, two jet skis, numerous pieces of jewelry, furniture and household items, artwork, purses, a television, computers, and balances in two bank accounts.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank M. Dale, Jr., represented the United States.