CFO Guilty of $1M Embezzlement for Luxury Goods

A federal jury in Chicago convicted former chief financial officer Tina Feuerstein of stealing more than $1 million from her employer’s subsidiary over five years. (justice.gov) Feuerstein, 53, of Hanover, Pennsylvania, was found guilty on April 9, 2026, on eight counts of wire fraud after a four-day trial in U.S. District Court. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt set sentencing for Aug. 26, 2026. (justice.gov) Prosecutors said she used a company American Express card to buy personal items that included luxury furniture, designer apparel and routine household expenses. They said she then falsified the company’s general ledgers and deleted entries in the expense system to hide more than 3,800 charges. (justice.gov) The wire-fraud charges turned on how the money moved and how the records were altered, not on a cash theft caught in one transaction. Prosecutors said Feuerstein also prepared false consolidated financial statements that understated expenses her employer used in making business decisions. (justice.gov) The case shows how a finance executive with control over cards, ledgers and reporting can conceal personal spending inside ordinary accounting entries for years. The Justice Department said the theft was hidden by offsetting stolen amounts in the books rather than by creating a separate fake vendor or payroll stream. (justice.gov) Federal prosecutors filed the criminal case in September 2024 in the Northern District of Illinois, even though Feuerstein worked for a Pennsylvania company, because that business was owned by a Chicago-area parent. Court records list the case as United States v. Feuerstein, No. 24-cr-412. (courtlistener.com) Before trial, prosecutors told the court that Feuerstein had admitted making the purchases on the company card during a Feb. 27, 2026 meeting with the government, while arguing the company had tolerated that practice. In the same filing, prosecutors said they expected she might try to argue that relatives, not she, made some of the purchases. (pacermonitor.com) The Justice Department also said trial evidence showed Feuerstein had previously embezzled more than $250,000 while working in another company’s accounting department. That allegation was part of the government’s trial presentation and did not change the eight guilty verdicts returned on the charged conduct in the Chicago case. (justice.gov) The verdict closes the trial phase, but the case is not over. Feuerstein returns to federal court in Chicago on Aug. 26, when Judge Hunt is scheduled to decide her sentence. (justice.gov)