Springfield woman pleads guilty to embezzling over $250,000 ...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Springfield woman pled guilty today to wire fraud relating to her scheme to embezzle over $250,000 from her employer.

According to court documents, Jennifer Giorffino, 53, served as the administrator for an organization dedicated to accounting for prisoners of war. The organization is financed by donations. Giorffino's duties included processing donor checks and paying bills of the organization. Only Giorffino and the Chairman of the Board had access to the organization's bank accounts.

Beginning in approximately October 2022, Giorffino began using debit cards associated with the organization's bank accounts to make unauthorized personal purchases and payments, including hundreds of purchases from Amazon, payments to her husband's bank account, payments made through PayPal to Walmart, PlayStation, DoorDash, Instacart, BarkBox, and Stich Fix.

Beginning in October 2023, Giorffino, using the identification of the organization's Chairman without her approval, applied for at least 30 credit cards and lines of credit, including with Lane Bryant, Kohls, TJ Maxx, LL Bean, B&H Photo, and Mission Lane. Giorffino used one of the fraudulently-opened credit cards to make $36,278.29 in purchases. Giorffino paid off the credit cards every month until April 2024 using the organization's bank accounts.

Between Oct. 3, 2023, and April 14, 2024, Giorffino checked the Chairman's credit through a major credit reporting company 37 times to maintain an understanding of the Chairman's creditworthiness for credit applications. During the same period, using the Chairman's identification, Giorffino sought preapproval for small business loans and lines of credit 78 times.

In February 2024, Giorffino opened a checking account in the organization's name. Giorffino added that account to the organization's online donation platform and began diverting donations meant for the organization into her fraudulently-opened account. In total, Giorffino diverted $29,746.67 in organization funds into her account, including online donations and 121 checks totaling $13,844.59. The checks were forwarded from the organization's official address to a UPS mailbox controlled by Giorffino.

By March 2024, Giorffino had largely emptied the organization's bank accounts and began forging bank statements and writing checks she knew would be returned for insufficient funds. Around the same time the theft of funds was discovered, the Chairman's credit card was declined at a restaurant because of Giorffino's activity. At an April 2024 board meeting, Giorffino provided the Board falsified bank statements showing that the organization's accounts had approximately $206,000 when the actual account balance was only $10,000.

In total, Giorffino misappropriated approximately $257,259 from the organization and the organization's bank accounts.

Giorffino is scheduled to be sentenced on March 6, 2025, and faces up to 20 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David E. Geist, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division; and Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth R. Simon Jr. is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:24-cr-224.

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