By: Richard L. Smith
A former hotel employee of a nationwide hotel chain was sentenced today to 15 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $317,582 for his role in a scheme to embezzle over $300,000 from the company.
Federal officials said Marco Alvarez, 47, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on April 14, 2022, by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
As a senior analyst for strategic sourcing for a national hotel chain, Alvarez was responsible for administering the company’s corporate credit card program.
He was authorized to approve credit card applications and access account information for such credit cards.
From April 2014 through January 2020, Alvarez embezzled funds from the hotel through the unauthorized use of the hotel’s corporate credit cards to purchase goods and services.
Alvarez admitted that he knowingly opened and used corporate credit cards to make $317,582 in unauthorized personal purchases.
He attempted to conceal them by transferring credits owed to the hotel to these credit cards to offset the unauthorized charges.
The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross profits or loss, whichever is greatest.