Woman Indicted for Writing Herself $800K in Checks From Her Former Employer

This woman literally checked herself 'til she wrecked herself.

Michiko Diaz, 57, wrote herself checks worth $800,000 from a Midtown office over six years she worked there. On Tuesday, she was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Diaz worked at Kobe Steel Ltd. controlling a checking account when she wrote herself 99 checks from the company and forged the signatures of company representatives. She also made false entries in the company's accounting records, according to the District Attorney's statement. This all happened from 2006 to 2012.

"This defendant is accused of robbing Peter to pay Paul," Vance said in a statement. "Over a period of six years, Michiko Diaz allegedly stole money from her employer in order to pay court-ordered restitution to a previous victim of a similar scheme that she committed in New Jersey. I encourage any company that believes it has been the victim of this type of theft to call my Office’s Financial Frauds Hotline at 212-335-8900."

Diaz was charged Tuesday in a New York State Supreme Court with grand larceny in the second degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, criminal tax fraud in the third and fourth degree, and offering a false instrument for filing the first degree.

According to the Manhattan DA, Diaz was stealing the funds to pay money she owed from a previous criminal case in New Jersey. She was also using the money to buy clothing and makeup, whittle down her credit card and cable bills, and pay her daughter's wedding expenses.

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