Virginia Woman Embezzles Money Donated to Former POWs
Jennifer Giorffino (circled in red) pleaded guilty on Oct. 31 to stealing over $250,000 from her employer, a POW organization. Photo credit: Facebook.
Jennifer Giorffino, a 53-year-old woman who served as the administrator for an organization dedicated to accounting for POWs, pleaded guilty on Oct. 31 to wire fraud in a scheme where she embezzled $257,259.
The sentencing is scheduled to be held on March 6, 2025. If convicted, Giorffino could spend 20 years in prison.
Used Organization Debit Cards to Make Unauthorized Personal Purchases
Giorffino misused her position as a person responsible for processing donor checks and paying organization bills, according to a public statement by the Justice Department. As the only person besides the Chairman of the Board who had access to the bank accounts, she used donated money for her personal benefit.
Starting in October 2022, she used organization debit cards to make unauthorized purchases and payments, spending money on hundreds of purchases on Amazon, PayPal payments to Walmart, PlayStation, DoorDash, Instacart, BarkBox and Stitch Fix while also transferring money to her husband’s bank account.
Stole Boss’s Identity, Sought Preapproval for Business Loans
One year later, in October 2023, she used the ID of the organization’s Chairman without her knowledge and approval to apply for at least 30 credit cards and credit lines, including with Lane Bryant, Kohls, TJ Maxx, LL Bean, B&H Photo and Mission Lane. Giorffino used one of the fraudulently-opened credit cards to make $36,278.29 in purchases. She paid off the credit cards every month until April 2024 using the organization’s bank accounts.
Court documents also state that in this time frame, she checked the credit status through a major credit reporting company 37 times to maintain an understanding of the Chairman’s creditworthiness. During the same period, using the Chairman’s identification, Giorffino sought preapproval for small business loans and lines of credit 78 times.
In February 2024, she opened a checking account in the organization’s name and later added it to the organization’s online donation platform, using it to divert donations meant for the organization into her own account. This way Giorffino diverted $29,746.67 from the donation account, including online donations along with 121 checks in the amount of $13,844.59. These checks were forwarded from the organization’s official address to a mailbox controlled by Giorffino.
By March 2024, Giorffino had largely emptied the organization’s bank accounts and began forging bank statements and writing checks she knew would be returned for insufficient funds.
Around the same time the theft of funds was discovered, the Chairman’s credit card was declined at a restaurant because of Giorffino’s activity. At an April 2024 board meeting, Giorffino provided the Board with falsified bank statements showing that the organization’s accounts had approximately $206,000 when the actual account balance was only $10,000.
In total, Giorffino misappropriated approximately $257,259 from the organization and the organization’s bank accounts.
What remains a mystery is the fact that she filed for bankruptcy in 2017, yet she somehow managed to land a job where her direct duty was handling money.
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