FBI Arrests RSM Man Who Allegedly Embezzled $16 Million

A federal judge in New York has ordered a former chief financial officer of an Irvine-based company returned to Santa Ana to face charges of embezzling about $16 million from the company, authorities said last week.

A magistrate in New York on April 3 ordered Jean Joseph Ibrahim, 33, formerly of Rancho Santa Margarita, back to Orange County to face wire fraud charges, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Ibrahim was arrested Friday at John F. Kennedy Airport while returning to the country from a trip that originated in Greece.

Ibrahim lived in Melinda Heights while he was the chief financial officer of Trustin Technology Inc. According to the company's website, it is a "supply chain management solution provider'' that works with companies such as Apple, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Buy.com.

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According to the FBI, Trustin executives contacted federal authorities March 8 saying they suspected Ibrahim embezzled millions from the company before resigning in late February, but not before he told Trustin executives that the company's cash-flow issues could be blamed on delinquent payments from multiple clients.

In a complaint filed by federal investigators, Ibrahim is accused of making hundreds of wire transfers from the company's accounts to his personal bank account. Ibrahim is also accused of trying to make a deal with company executives to not have him prosecuted when the fraud was discovered, promising to return some of the money.

Ibrahim allegedly said he gambled some of the money away and spent some of it on himself.

The FBI said that Ibrahim left the country with his family in late February and authorities allege one of his work emails indicates he bought a villa in a suburb of Tehran, Iran.

After he resigned from Trustin, Ibrahim took a trip to Switzerland, Turkey and Lebanon and was stopped by U.S. Customs officials in February who found he had about 40 gold bars in his luggage worth more than $1 million, but he was allowed to keep them, Eimiller said.

She said Ibrahim worked for the company for about four years and earned about $180,000 annually.

—City News Service