KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City woman has pleaded guilty to a $3 million fraud that forced her employer to declare bankruptcy and close the business.
Federal prosecutors say 52-year-old Irene Marie Brooner pleaded guilty Wednesday to bank fraud. She admitted that for more than a decade she took the money from Galvmet Inc., a sheet metal fabrication and steel service center in Kansas City. The company closed in 2014, when it had 18 to 20 employees.
Brooner was a controller who managed payroll and accounts at Galvmet. During the scheme, she created 389 unauthorized transactions from the company’s bank account to her personal account and increased her net pay on about 108 checks.
Brooner was ordered to forfeit her home, a Lexus, jewelry and at least $2.9 million.