Core Summary

  • The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a press release Wednesday that a former financial controller of a local San Francisco law firm was sentenced to three years in federal prison after admitting to a fraud scheme thatembezzled more than $1.3 million from his former employer. Previously, former Chief Financial Officer Tony Archuleta-Perkins, as part of a plea agreement in December 2024,pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering. According to a press release at the time, he was charged in July of last year witheight counts of bank fraud and five counts of money laundering。
  • Between 2017 and 2023, Archuleta-Perkins embezzled funds from his former employer, including transferring funds to a nonprofit organization he fully controlled. According to a sentencing memorandum filed on May 14 in the Northern District of California court, the former financial controller used these funds for "maintenance and renovation of two San Francisco homes and a Palm Springs vacation property, ultra-luxury fashion, and high-end international travel."
  • "Mr. Archuleta-Perkins took immediate responsibility in this case and took extraordinary steps to repay the funds," Kenneth White, Archuleta-Perkins' attorney and founding partner of Brown White & Osborn LLP, told CFO Dive via email. "I expect he will continue to do so. He has strong support from friends and family who know he will do everything possible to make things right."

In-Depth Analysis

In addition to the 37-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley also sentenced Archuleta-Perkins to three years of supervised release and ordered the former financial controller to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution, according to the press release.

The restitution amount will be offset by funds already paid to the victim, including an agreement between the affected parties that certain proceeds from the October 2024 sale of a San Francisco property "would be deposited into the registry of the court pending the final restitution order in this case," according to the sentencing memorandum. The clerk's office received approximately $256,000 in November.

Archuleta-Perkins was initially hired by a local law firm in 2017, holding various positions there and eventually serving as CFO of the firm and its affiliated law offices, according to Wednesday's press release. His position gave him access to the company's payroll and payment platforms, which the former financial controller used in multiple ways tomisappropriate funds, according to the announcement of Archuleta-Perkins' December guilty plea.

Archuleta-Perkins "engaged in a years-long embezzlement scheme, first stealing from colleagues at a food company, then exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic and his employer's serious health issues to begin stealing from the small law firm where he worked," the sentencing memorandum states.

Most of the embezzled funds were funneled through a nonprofit organization that the former financial controller established and fully controlled. In 2013, Archuleta-Perkins—a 1994 graduate of Murrieta Valley High School—formed a nonprofit called "Murrieta Valley High School Class of 1994," "apparently to raise funds for a 20-year high school reunion," according to the sentencing memorandum.

Archuleta-Perkins embezzled more than $1.1 million through the MVHS 1994 nonprofit and its associated bank accounts by directing fraudulent payments from the law firm to the nonprofit, according to the memorandum.

Additionally, "on at least one occasion, Archuleta-Perkins forged the endorsement of a $41,663.69 U.S. Treasury check made out to one of the law firms, deposited it into the MVHS 1994 bank account, and then wrote himself a check for the same amount," according to theannouncement of his July indictment。

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment.