Summary
- In a stunning twist, an investigation reveals the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of dollars, pointing to a Senior Budget Analyst at the State Department as the main suspect.
- In nearly two years, a staggering $657,347.50 was stolen by the former Analyst, who cleverly concealed her actions.
- A woman from Montgomery Village has been sentenced to just over a year in prison and will be required to repay the U.S. government. Following her release, she will also need to complete three years of supervised oversight.
A woman who embezzled over half a million dollars to satisfy her gambling addiction was recently sentenced to prison.
Fraud results in $650,000 theft
The United States Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia has unveiled details of an embezzlement case involving a former senior budget analyst for the State Department. This criminal investigation was conducted by the State Department's Office of Inspector General and the Diplomatic Security Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman, working alongside former Paralegal Specialist Sona Chaturvedi, led the prosecution. At the heart of this case is Levita Almuete Ferrer, a 65-year-old resident of Montgomery Village, Maryland. Before the investigation that exposed the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Ferrer held the position of Senior Budget Analyst for the State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol. The Court revealed that Ferrer exploited her role by issuing 60 checks payable to herself, along with three additional checks to a relative. Each of these 63 checks was printed, signed, and deposited into her personal accounts. In total, the sum of the checks amounted to $657,347.50. The Court found that this embezzlement spanned from March 2022 to April 2024. Court documents indicate that the stolen funds were primarily squandered on gambling. An investigation further uncovered Ferrer's deceitful measures to obscure her actions through a shared QuickBooks account at the State Department. Despite making out checks to herself, Ferrer altered the listed payee in QuickBooks to reflect a State Department vendor, masking her activities from the system's standard displays. Her name only surfaced during an audit trail, which ultimately unraveled the embezzlement.
The former Senior Analyst was sentenced to one year and one day in prison
Earlier this year, on April 30, Ferrer admitted to stealing government property. At 65, she accepted the conditions set by Judge Christopher R. Cooper, which included a strict ban on visiting any casinos. Yet, on the very day of her guilty plea, Ferrer defied the court's orders by making a stop at the MGM National Harbor casino. Just a week later, she was back again, this time trying her luck at the high-limit slots. Once the government caught wind of her defiance, they informed the court, prompting Judge Cooper to revoke her release and order her detention until sentencing. Late last week, Ferrer, a resident of Montgomery Village, was handed a sentence of 12 months and one day in prison for embezzling $650,000. Alongside her prison time, Judge Cooper ordered her to repay $657,347.50 to the U.S. government and placed her under three years of supervised release. Unsurprisingly, she is also banned from visiting casinos or engaging in any form of gambling.
