Ex-Law School Controller Pleads Guilty in $173K Embezzlement Aided by Tuition Breaks
A former controller at New England Law Boston has pleaded guilty to charges alleging he embezzled $173,000 from the school in part by giving students breaks on tuition.
Douglas Leman had worked at the law school for 17 years, the Boston Globe reports. He was accused of using a computer over a 2½-year period to create 68 false checks totaling more than $173,000. He signed the checks using signature stamps of other law school employees, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston.
As part of the scheme, the Globe story says, Leman created false charges on student accounts, then issued checks to himself and his wife against the accounts. He eliminated the charges by reducing tuition or writing off charges as bad debt.
Leman pleaded guilty in Boston federal court on Thursday to accessing a protected computer to defraud and to create forged checks. As part of the plea deal, the government has agreed to seek a sentence at the low end of the guidelines, the story says. Prosecutors will also seek $173,000 in restitution.
