Lewisville bookkeeper pleads guilty to embezzling over $29 million from her employer
LEWISVILLE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a Lewisville woman pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling over $29 million from her employer, a Dallas family who runs several companies and a charitable foundation.
Barbara Chalmers, 74, of Lewisville, admitted in court that beginning as early as 2012, she abused her power as the bookkeeper for the companies and authority over their bank accounts to write at least 175 fraudulent checks for herself.
Prosecutors said that in order to hide her scheme, she gave false paperwork to tax preparers that misstated the year-end cash-on-hand numbers for the accounts she was siphoning money from.
Over $25 million of the stolen funds was used to fund a construction company Chalmers was the president of.
Chalmers pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering on Dec. 29, 2022. She now faces up to 10 years in federal prison in sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.
The FBI, which is investigating the case alongside the DoJ's Criminal Division and the Eastern District of Texas, says the investigation is ongoing.
