Grad School Dean's Assistant From Morris Helped Embezzle $1.3M: Feds

EAST HANOVER, NJ — A former assistant dean and two other ex-employees at a New Jersey law school have admitted to their roles in a $1.3 million “embezzlement scheme” that went on for 13 years, federal prosecutors said.

One of the defendants is a Morris County resident, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey said she formed a shell company to submit false invoices to the school totaling more than $208,000. Prosecutors said the trio used several other different methods to defraud the Essex County school — including forgery, fraudulent invoices, and unauthorized transactions.

Officials didn’t name the specific university in a news release, but Seton Hall has confirmed the incident took place at the university’s law school, according to NJ Advance Media.

A spokesperson told Patch that the university uncovered the "financial irregularities" during a regular internal review.

“We immediately conducted a more intensive review utilizing a third-party auditor and notified the appropriate higher education and government entities," the university said in a statement. “This process led to our implementation of additional financial safeguards and controls to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents."

Former assistant dean Teresina DeAlmeida, 59, of Warren and Rose Martins, 44, of East Hanover pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on Friday, said U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger's office.

DeAlmeida's sister Silvia Cardoso, 61, also of Warren, pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier last week.

“Between 2009 and July 2022, DeAlmeida, Martins and Cardoso conspired to fraudulently misappropriate more than $1.3 million from their former employer," Sellinger said. "DeAlmeida was an assistant dean responsible for financial functions, and Martins served as her assistant. Cardoso, DeAlmeida’s sister, was also employed by the graduate school in a support staff role.”

According to prosecutors, the three defendants used a variety of methods to defraud the university:

FALSE INVOICES - Beginning in 2009, DeAlmeida directed a graduate school vendor to pay Martins and Cardoso as though they worked for the vendor, even though they did not perform any services. DeAlmeida and Martins then caused the vendor to submit false invoices to the graduate school over the course of approximately four years in order to reimburse the vendor for the amounts fraudulently paid to Martins and Cardoso.

GIFT CARDS - From 2010 through 2022, DeAlmeida and Martins directed graduate school vendors to order hundreds of thousands of dollars of gift cards and prepaid debit cards the conspirators used for their personal benefit, and then to submit fraudulent invoices to the school purporting to be for goods and services that were never provided. The conspirators also misused DeAlmeida’s school-issued credit card to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of gift cards and prepaid debit cards from the school’s bookstore. DeAlmeida routinely fraudulently approved these charges and Martins forged the signatures of other employees on internal approvals.

SHELL COMPANY - In 2015, Martins opened a shell entity called CMS Content Management Specialist LLC. Although CMS never rendered any services to the graduate school, Martins submitted fraudulent invoices totaling more than $208,000, which DeAlmeida approved.

CREDIT CARD - The conspirators also used DeAlmeida’s school-issued credit card to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized personal purchases. DeAlmeida and Martins used the card to make over $70,000 in purchases at an online retailer shipped directly to their homes, including woman’s shoes, smart watches, and bed linens. DeAlmeida and Martins fraudulently altered certain receipts before submitting them to the school for payment.

The wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a fine equal to the greater of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greatest, prosecutors said.

Sentencing for Cardoso is scheduled for Nov. 26, for DeAlmeida on Dec. 2, and for Martins on Dec. 3.

In a statement, the university expressed gratitude to those agencies involved in the investigation for their diligence.

Patch's Eric Kiefer contributed to this report.