FBI Newark Division #News Release:

Former Attorney for Home Health Care Company Admits Stealing More Than $2.6 Million from His Employer

U.S. Attorney’s OfficeMay 26, 2015

District of New Jersey(973) 645-2888

TRENTON, NJ—The former in-house counsel of an Ocean County, New Jersey-based home health care company today admitted using his attorney trust account to steal over $2.6 million from his employer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Matthew S. Neugeboren, 39, of Manalapan, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2006 through 2013, Neugeboren was in-house counsel for Company A, a home health care company in Ocean County. As such, Neugeboren maintained an attorney trust account to pay for Company A’s expenses. To cover those expenses, Neugeboren requested checks and wire transfers be made from Company A’s bank accounts into his attorney trust account.

As part of the scheme, Neugeboren caused Company A to transfer more money into his attorney trust account than was necessary to cover company expenses. Neugeboren admitted that he used the additional money for his personal benefit, including gambling. Neugeboren admitted that from January 2008 through December 2012, he stole approximately $2,644,911.91 from Company A.

In addition to the wire fraud scheme, Neugeboren knowingly and willfully filed a false tax return that failed to include approximately $630,000 in gross income that he received in calendar year 2011 from his scheme to defraud Company A.

The wire fraud count to which Neugeboren pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The false tax return count is punishable by a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Both charges carry a maximum fine of $250,000. Neugeboren has already returned some of the money from the scheme. As part of his plea agreement, he must pay remaining restitution in the amount of $1,404,962.91. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 3, 2015.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel, and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fabiana Pierre-Louis of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

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