Prison for $1m Carrier embezzler

USA: A former Carrier accounting manager has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for embezzling more than $1m from the US air conditioning business.

Ryan King, 44, was employed by Carrier as an accounting manager between June 2013 and April 2014.  He was entrusted to oversee Carrier’s financial transactions including cost accounting, hourly payroll and preparation of financial statements among other duties.

Shortly after being appointed, King opened a personal bank account in the name of “Carrier Services” and instructed various vendors to make payments in the form of cheques made out to that company name. 

When King received the checks he diverted the money by depositing the checks into his personal account. He also sent inflated invoices by fax to several vendors and instructed the vendors to wire the over payment to his personal account. In total, $1,095,201 was diverted to his personal account.

Pre-charge, the government recovered over $500,000 from various savings and investment accounts and assets owned by King. These monies and assets will be applied toward the $1,233,343.80 in restitution ordered by the Court.

King was also sentenced to six months of home detention during two years of supervised release following his release from prison.