A woman has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from her employer for one-third of the 22 years she worked at an interior and exterior demolition company in Maspeth.
According to the charges, between 2012 and 2019 Vedeyah Badalin abused her role as accountant at Titan Industrial Services to create fake employees in order to cash their checks and pocket the funds.
“Allegedly skimming money by the millions, this trusted employee found an unusual way to pad her bank account,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “When the checks were cut she was the alleged recipient, depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars into her personal bank accounts.
As the company’s in-house accountant, Badal had virtually unlimited control over the business’s finances throughout her tenure.
In 2019, she left the company. It was at that point that someone discovered three employees who existed in name only, and that these three fictitious workers were getting paid weekly. The company owners conducted a forensic audit and found a total of 13 phantom employees created between 2012 and 2019. The fake workers had bogus Social Security numbers and were even having federal, state and local taxes withheld from the paychecks.
The audit revealed that between June 2015 and March 2019, there were 289 checks totaling $630,132 written against the business’s two M & T Bank account. Those checks were deposited into the defendant’s Chase Bank account.
Between May 2014 and March 2019, 269 checks totaling $596,326 were drawn from the business’s bank account and deposited into Badal’s Citibank account.
And from December 2015 through March 2019, the defendant allegedly cashed 132 checks at a local check cashing business for a total $295,127.
In all, the defendant embezzled $2 million from Titan Industrial Services. The company lost another $1 million paying various taxes on the fake employees.
The 56-year-old resident of Ridgewood Avenue in Brooklyn has been charged with grand larceny, money laundering, and falsifying business records in the first degree.
She faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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