U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp has sentenced Richard D. Zellner, the former Chief Financial Officer of a company in St. Louis County, Missouri, to 41 months in prison for embezzling $2 million. In addition to his prison sentence, Zellner is required to repay the stolen funds.
Zellner’s fraudulent activities took place between January 2019 and January 2024. During this period, he used his employer’s bank accounts to pay off personal credit card balances that accumulated thousands of dollars in charges every few days or weeks. The funds were spent on vacations, travel, personal bills, and purchases of gold and precious metals. To conceal his actions, Zellner altered company accounting records by creating fake work orders and bills.
He also utilized the company’s credit cards for personal expenses. Over the course of his scheme, Zellner made more than 1,000 unauthorized transactions, resulting in approximately $2,062,051 being fraudulently obtained.
Zellner, aged 66 and residing in O’Fallon, Missouri, waived a grand jury indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in August at the U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Maryland Heights Police Department with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuting the case.
