Norfolk seafood company worker admits embezzling $2.3M

Posted to: Business Crime News Norfolk
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By Lauren King
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 2, 2011

NORFOLK

A longtime employee of the Ballard Fish & Oyster Co. pleaded guilty today in federal court to committing mail fraud.

Leslie M. Coffman, 60, of Norfolk faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when she is sentenced on June 1, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia said.

Coffman had been a bookkeeper for Ballard for nearly 20 years before the U.S. attorney’s office filed a criminal charge against her in February. The FBI began investigating Coffman last August when company officials noticed a suspicious payment to a credit card company.

As bookkeeper, Coffman was responsible for paying bills for the company, which has been run by the Ballard family for more than 100 years through five generations. Based on Duke Street in downtown Norfolk, the company grows and harvests clams and oysters on the Eastern Shore.

From 2005 through 2010, Coffman devised a scheme to embezzle more than $2.3 million by creating false entries in company records to indicate certain corporate checks had been paid to transportation providers, the news release said, citing court documents. In fact, Coffman was writing the checks to pay off personal credit card debt.

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What happened to the money?

Submitted by davidh36291 on Thu, 03/03/2011 at 9:39 am.

Where's the money? Over 2 million in 5 years and she's only fined $250. That's a lot of clams to spend and there should be a way to track it. I think a civil suit is next.

All too often

Submitted by Brickdust on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 10:07 am.

2.3 Mil spread out over 20 years.... not bad, but that does not compare to what happened to the Kellam's.

The Kellam and Eaton Lumber Yard was taken for 11 mil in just 14 years by thier book keeper around 1996 if I remember correctly.

Norfolk seafood company

Submitted by laudon on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 7:17 am.

Even Ray Charles would have seen a " Red Herring " in those books.

I guess they do not know the grand furniture family business

Submitted by Try Again on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 6:40 am.

Same thing, putting money(CLAMS)under the mattress,pulling the RUG out from under them, and pulling the wool over their eyes.

I just want to know who did the annual Audit

Submitted by henry on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 2:42 am.

Some mom and Pops do and some don't. And even large companies have at best a glancing audit. It really pays to spend the money and time for a really qualified audit. And of course if the business owner doesn't take the advice of the audit, you know those recommendations at the end of the audit, then a company is just asking for trouble.

I still find it hard to believe an audit missed 2.3 million.

Always take all of the addresses in payroll and compare them against addresses in A/P. You'll always have hits and then you check if they are valid. Look for payments made to PO Boxes and make sure they are valid.

This much money was missed due to blind trust.

Hey Eureka

Submitted by OmniVisual on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 12:15 am.

You obviously don't own your own business.

the bookkeeper should have been bonded

Submitted by eureka on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 6:50 am.

I am smart enough to know that the bookkeeper should have been bonded. Secondly, I am smart enough to know that one should never trust one person to handle their money. One does not have to own a “business” to employ those safeguards.

Did this company ever hear of an annual audit?

Submitted by eureka on Tue, 03/01/2011 at 11:43 pm.

Did this company ever hear of an annual audit? Sounds like they created their own problem after the first year.

Did this company ever require two signatures on a check?

Did an officer of the company ever look at the books on a monthly basis?

Where were the "checks" and balances?

Obviously there were no Checks and Balances

Submitted by henry on Wed, 03/02/2011 at 2:53 am.

And obviously either there were no audits or the audits were not allowed to trace transactions because of a severe trust. Most business owners blindly trust their bookkeepers and for 99.9% of businesses that works fine. However there's a saying "follow the money". Businesses are most vulnerable to those that deposit income and those that dole out payments.

It is normal to routinely check A/P payments and make sure they are legit.

In the end it comes down to trust and for the most part that works.

BTW, having two check signers can mean nothing if those signing routinely just sign and only check the big amounts. A few thousand here and a few there can really add up over time.