A former human resources manager was sentenced to more than four years in prison last Friday over a scam that embezzled $1.7 million earmarked for diversity recruitment, the US Attorney’s office reported. The case involved two other firms that purportedly performed recruitment work.
The former HR manager — Judith Fernandez-Adelugba, 45, of Stevenson Ranch, California — was also ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution, according to the office. She previously pleaded guilty in August 2021 to one count of wire fraud.
While the US Attorney’s office in its announcement referred to the company Fernandez-Adelugba worked for as “company-1,” court records refer the victim company in this lawsuit as American Honda Motor Co. Inc.
Fernandez-Adelugba worked as an HR manager at the firm, which had operations in Santa Clarita, California, according to the office. It specialized in the design and development of racing engines, chassis and various high-performance automotive parts.
Fernandez-Adelugba worked with two other companies as part of the scheme, according to the office. Those two other firms submitted fake invoices for diversity recruitment-related services purportedly performed. Those services included posting job openings, placing job-related advertisements, searching for candidates and successfully recruiting candidates.
One of the firms, Stevenson Ranch-based Business Solutions Services, was owned by Fernandez-Adelugba’s father, George Fernandez, 75, of Stevenson Ranch, according to the office. The other firm was Engineering Talent Connect. The US Attorney’s office reported this firm was a fictitious business name registered to an address in Mission Hills, California. The owner of the fictitious business name was Alex Lawrence Wilkison, 49, of Canyon Country, California. Wilkison was married to work colleague of Fernandez-Adelugba.
The fake invoices were approved by Fernandez-Adelugba, according to the office; 150 fake invoices were paid that totaled $1.7 million. Fernandez-Adelugba kept $1.1 million and gave the rest of the funds to Fernandez and Wilkison. The money went to Las Vegas trips, credit card bills and dining at restaurants.
“Company-1 suffered more than just that feeling of betrayal,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “[Fernandez-Adelugba’s] embezzlement of funds earmarked for diversity recruitment caused company-1 to fall behind its diversity recruiting goals. Because of [Fernandez-Adelugba’s] greed and selfishness, many worthy diverse engineers may have been denied potential careers at company-1.”
Incidents in the case happened from March 2015 until Fernandez-Adelugba resigned in February 2018, according to the office.
Wilkison pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of wire fraud and is serving a six-month federal prison sentence, according to the office. Wilkison was also ordered to pay $183,600 in restitution.
George Fernandez agreed to pay $103,140 in restitution to company-1 as part of a pretrial diversion agreement with federal prosecutors, according to the office. Superseding information filed in September 2021 charged Fernandez with misprision of a felony for failing to report his daughter’s act of wire fraud in March 2018 despite knowing of her criminal conduct.