NEWS RELEASE
OWENSBORO, Ky. – The former office manager of a Henderson, Kentucky law firm was sentenced in U.S. District Court this week, to 27 months in prison, followed by a three year period of supervised release and ordered to pay full restitution by Chief Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. for embezzling $264,867.84 during a 30-month period, from her former employer, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.
According to a release 45 year old Krista Kaye Graupner, of Evansville, Indiana, admitted to committing three counts of wire fraud while employed at the law firm of King, Deep & Branaman (KDB) between June of 2012 and December of 2014.
As office manager, officials say Graupner had access to KDB’s bank accounts and was authorized to write checks and initiate ACH payments out of these accounts. During her guilty plea, on October 21, 2015, Graupner admitted to paying her own personal bills using KDB’s funds.
In October of 2014, Graupner also reportedly began wiring money from Henderson to various individuals in South Africa who were part of the scheme. Graupner admitted that she would write checks, either for cash or to herself, drawn upon KDB accounts and then use the cash from the KDB checks to wire the money via Western Union to individuals in South Africa. In perpetuating this crime, Graupner made approximately 200 wire transfers from October 2014 through December 2014.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nute A. Bonner and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Henderson Police Department.