Big theft leads to bankruptcy, questionable home decor and prison

When your accountant is handling matters, better watch the accountant.

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Kansas City woman to five years in prison for stealing so much for so long that the company she worked for went bankrupt.

Accountant Irene Marie Brooner, 52, embezzled almost $3 million from 2004 to 2014 and used it for lavish and sometimes odd spending.

She probably became the only one on her block with a basement bar called the “Dirty Duck.” It included seating for 15, five tap lines, three flat-screen televisions, a smoke machine and much more.

Part of the ambiance, for instance, included mannequins outfitted in World War II German and American uniforms, complete with a Thompson sub-machine gun and M-1 Garands with bayonets.

Also from a federal prosecutor media release:

The bar was apparently well stocked, since she spent $18,383 on alcohol. Other spending included paying off her mortgage for $289,290, $400,392 on clothing, $97,180 on restaurants, $78,439 on vehicles, $169,383 on furniture and home décor, $59,571 on spa visits and beauty items, $68,745 on tuition for her children and $62,003 on travel.

The company where she worked, sheet metal fabricator Galvmet, Inc., once employed 26 people and did $14 million in annual sales. It had about 20 employees and $10 million in sales when it went bankrupt last year.

In February 2014, the company’s president finally noticed unauthorized transfers from company accounts to Brooner’s personal account and called in the FBI.

Brooner stole at least $1.9 million from the company and $1.1 million more from a bank when she falsified documents to keep her scheme going.

She pleaded guilty to bank fraud in October.link to other story

The judge on Thursday also ordered her to pay about $3 million in restitution and forfeit to the government her Lexus and numerous pieces of jewelry.

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