Carrier accountant charged in $1m fraud

USA: An accountant with air conditioning manufacturer Carrier has been charged with stealing over $1m from his employer.

It is alleged that Ryan M King, 43, of Indianapolis, stole the money while employed as an accounting manager at UTC subsidiary Carrier’s offices on West Morris Street in Indianapolis. King is said to have been entrusted to oversee UTC’s financial transactions including cost accounting, payroll and financial statements from February 2013, through February 2015.

In June 2013, King is said to have opened an unauthorised personal checking account in the name of Carrier Services at Bank One and subsequently communicated with several UTC vendors using his business e-mail account, instructing them to write cheques for outstanding invoices to Carrier Services.

It is alleged that King would then deposit the cheques into his personal account making the vendor think their payment was going to UTC. He also faxed other vendors with inflated invoices instructing them to wire transfer payment directly into the Carrier Services account. The government alleges that in total, the scheme defrauded victim companies of over $1,095,000.

According to Assistant US Attorney Cynthia J Ridgeway, who is prosecuting this case for the government, King faces up to 20 years if convicted.