Photo: Stock Unplash @till_indeman
April 28, 2021 By Ryan Songalia
A woman who allegedly scammed her Maspeth employer out of millions of dollars has been charged with grand larceny and faces up to 25 years in prison.
Vedeyah Badal, 56, who worked as an in-house accountant at Titan Industrial Services Inc., allegedly swindled the firm by putting fake employees on the payroll—only to take their bogus paychecks and cash them for herself.
The elaborate scheme allegedly took place from 2012 to 2019, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
The scam was uncovered after Badal left the company in 2019, when someone noticed three unknown employees were on the payroll. She had worked at the firm for 22 years.
A forensic audit found a total of 13 fictitious employees were paid over the years, all of whom had fake social security numbers and had federal, state and local taxes withheld from their paychecks.
In total, Badal is believed to have stolen $2 million from her employer, while costing the company an additional $1 million in payroll withholdings and other expenses.
Badal, from Brooklyn, was arraigned last Thursday in Queens County Criminal Court on charges of first degree grand larceny, second degree money laundering and falsifying business records in the first degree.
She is scheduled to return to court on June 7.
