Acting United States Attorney Gregory G. Brooker today announced the indictment of JULIE ANN LEE, 53, former controller of the Town & Country Club in St. Paul, Minn., on four counts of wire fraud and six counts of filing false tax returns. LEE is expected to make her initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis later this week.
According to the indictment, from 2008 through 2016, LEE was the controller of the Town & Country Club ("TCC"), a private golf club in St. Paul, Minn. In her role, LEE was responsible for managing TCCs finances and had authority to sign and issue checks on behalf of TCC as well as signing authority on TCCs bank accounts, including a line of credit TCC had with Alliance Bank. LEE used her position as controller to devise a scheme to embezzle more than $1 million from TCC over the course of eight years.
According to the indictment, as part of her embezzlement scheme, LEE fraudulently issued herself more than 50 checks totaling more than $150,000 directly from TCCs bank accounts. LEE also stole approximately $250,000 in cash from TCC, which she deposited into her personal bank account. As part of the scheme, LEE also made payments on her personal credit cards directly from TCC bank accounts totaling approximately $600,000. LEE spent the funds she embezzled on things unrelated to TCC, including personal travel, home improvements and her mortgage, a 2013 Dodge Charger, a 2015 GMC Sierra K3500 pickup truck, a motorcycle, a recreational vehicle, and 81 acres of land in northern Minnesota.
According to the indictment, LEE attempted to conceal her embezzlement scheme and cover the shortage of money in TCCs bank accounts by taking advances on TCCs line of credit at Alliance Bank. As a result of LEEs embezzlement, TCC was left without sufficient funds to make its quarterly payroll tax payments to the IRS. In order to conceal the shortage of funds, LEE filed false quarterly payroll tax returns with the IRS understating TCCs payroll tax liability. At times, LEE also filed TCCs quarterly payroll tax returns late and made TCCs quarterly tax payments late, which resulted in TCC paying more than $300,000 in interest and penalties to the IRS.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, the United States Secret Service, and the Saint Paul Police Department.
--DOJ District of Minnesota
Source: U.S. Secret Service