Former CFO Sentenced For Embezzling From Manhasset-Based Company

MANHASSET, NY — The chief financial officer of a Manhasset real estate company was sentenced Wednesday to prison for embezzling millions of dollars from his business.

Kwesi Bovell, 38, of Valley Stream, was ordered to serve five years in prison and pay restitution of $3.45 million for embezzling from his employer, The Mulholland Group.

Bovell pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2019.

"To fund a lifestyle of extravagance and opulence, the defendant plundered his employer's company from the time he was hired until his fraud was discovered three years later, and with today's sentence, he is punished for his avarice and betrayal," said Acting United States Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis.

Prosecutors allege Bovell began embezzling money from the company shortly after he became CFO. In this position, he had signature authority over numerous bank accounts of Mulholland and its subsidiaries.

Over three years, Bovell transferred more than $3.5 million from Mulholland to a company he controlled called Southgate Holdings, according to officials.

They say the former CFO spent most of the money on luxury purchases for himself and others, including:

• A $66,000 ring
• $500,000 to a woman with whom he was in a relationship
• An additional $500,000 into a laundromat business operated, in part, by that woman
• About $90,000 to another woman for whom he rented an apartment in Manhattan
• $722,000 on a failed gym, Evolution Fitness, in Suffolk County

According to Mulholland, at least $1.5 million remains unaccounted for.