Thanks to an ingenious identity theft scheme, the accountant of the Clair de Lune boutiques managed to defraud the retailer for $746,000 by drawing on the paychecks of more than 500 employees for years. However, Georgia Tzanetakos’ sentence was postponed on Wednesday due to a shortage of court clerks.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
The 61-year-old Lavalloise showed up at the Montreal courthouse ready to go to prison. However, Judge Karine Giguère was unable to render her sentence, for lack of judicial personnel in the courtroom, a recurring problem in recent months due to the departure of many clerks. The sentence was therefore postponed until next week.
Georgia Tzanetakos pleaded guilty to a fraud charge in September 2021 in this story which was a blow to retailer Clair de Lune. In financial difficulty for many reasons, the company took shelter from its creditors in 2014, then in December 2019 under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law.
Since then, the 70 stores of this retailer specializing in homewares have closed their doors. However, the company’s bankruptcy cannot be directly linked to the fraud.
According to the summary of facts presented in court, Georgia Tzanetakos handled employee payroll from March 2008 to September 2014. Her scheme was as follows: she targeted part-time or ex-employees and then falsified their hours worked in the pay system. She redirected the pay of 566 employees to her advantage, stealing the identity of 124 employees at the same time.
Georgia Tzanetakos then deposited the stolen sums in 10 different bank accounts. While some accounts were in her name, several were in the names of her two children, her husband, or even her assistant.
It was a person who replaced the fraudster during her vacation who discovered the pot of roses. An employee had complained that she had not received her pay. By checking the internal system, the replacement noticed that the sum had indeed been deposited in a bank account, but not that of the employee. When questioned by the company controller, Georgia Tzanetakos admitted to stealing $7,500 from this employee.
It should be noted that Clair de Lune received $100,000 from its insurance company, then $65,000 from the accused as part of a civil action.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Georgia Tzanetakos (in the center, with the blue mask) and her lawyer, Mand Richard Tawil (right)
During sentencing submissions, Crown counsel, Mr.and Nicolas Ammerlaan, demanded a three-year prison sentence, while Mand Richard Tawil, of the defense, asked for a reprieve, a particularly lenient sentence for such fraud. Mand Camille Rochon-Lamy also led the case for the public prosecutor during the admission of guilt.