The Trial Balance is CFO.com’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — Former CFO accused of multimillion-dollar fraud at major frozen foods producer
There is nothing like coming together as a family for the holidays this time of year, but for the Fantazia family, whose patriarch is former Cebro Frozen Foods CFO Robert Fantazia, things may be far less festive.
That’s because a civil lawsuit in Stanislaus County, California, alleges he diverted more than $4.3 million from the company to his personal accounts and to the benefit of himself and his family over several years. Fantazia was arrested the day before the Thanksgiving holiday and released last week after prosecutors did not immediately file criminal charges. In the civil suit, his wife, Cheryl, and two sons, Alexander and Joshua, the latter of whom is believed to be incarcerated currently, according to the lawsuit, have all been named personally.
Fantazia joined the grower-owned company in the late 1980s and later became a director overseeing all financial operations, and is accused of using corporate funds to bankroll a luxury lifestyle that far exceeded his compensation and visible company performance. The situation raises fresh, but not-so-old questions for finance leaders about internal controls, segregation of duties and oversight of tenured executives.
According to the complaint, Fantazia maintained sole access to online accounts and actively discouraged safeguards like two-factor authentication, even as CEO Patrick Cerutti questioned why profits continued to fall despite strong sales. For years, Fantazia reportedly offered vague assurances about cash flow and pointed to ongoing construction projects that he said would restore profitability once completed.
When those projects ended, and the numbers still failed to improve, the lawsuit says employees began to question how the CFO was financing new cars, vacations, multiple homes and high-end purchases.
Fantazia’s questionable spending patterns are in line with things CFOs would immediately recognize as red flags: more than $1.5 million paid to American Express, nearly $1 million to Wells Fargo and substantial charges to Chase, Citi and Barclays. Company funds allegedly also financed vehicles for Fantazia and his wife, including a Rivian, Chevy Silverado, BMW 650 and GMC Yukon.
Other purchases on the company dollar included diamond jewelry, designer clothing and real estate in Modesto, California. The suit also claims funds were used during a custody effort for Fantazia’s granddaughter and for updates to the family’s estate planning.
Cebro says the scheme unraveled only after a new outside accounting firm began requesting records Fantazia controlled. Once Cerutti reviewed the books, the Turlock Journal reported that he said it was clear “something was definitely off,” prompting an internal review that traced personal expenses directly to corporate accounts.
As the civil action proceeds, the case serves as a stark reminder that long tenured executives with deep institutional knowledge can exploit gaps in oversight if controls, visibility and shared access are not consistently and rigorously enforced.
Part 2 — This week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, Dec. 8 — None scheduled.
Tuesday, Dec. 9
- NFIB Small Business Optimism, Nov.
- Job openings, delayed Oct. report
Wednesday, Dec. 10
- Monthly U.S. federal budget, Nov.
- FOMC interest-rate decision
- Employment cost index (delayed Q3 report)
Thursday, Dec. 11
- Initial jobless claims
- Producer price index, Nov.
- Core PPI, Nov.
Friday, Dec. 12 — None scheduled.
Part 3 — Weekly listen: SoFi CFO Chris Lapointe on growth origins and goals
SoFi CFO Chris Lapointe used a virtual Dec. 3 appearance at the UBS Global Technology & AI Conference to explain why the company is gaining momentum in a mixed economic cycle that is pressuring many lenders. He said 2025 has delivered “really strong operating trends across the board” and that SoFi now expects “$3.54 billion of adjusted net revenue” and more than 3.5 million new members. Lapointe highlighted the gains of SoFi’s evolution since the firm transformed from a nonbank lender into a regulated bank.
He pointed to a deliberate tilt toward fee-based income as credit markets stay uneven. “Forty percent of total revenue was fee-based revenue,” Lapointe said, up from about 25%. Interchange and brokerage fees are “up 70% year to date,” while the loan platform business is “up 4x,” giving SoFi a capital-light growth engine at a time when many banks face rising balance sheet costs.
Cross-sell performance, according to the bank’s CFO, is reinforcing that pivot. Lapointe said SoFi hit “40% cross buy”, driven by products that “work better when they are used together.” With customers spreading deposits across more institutions in search of yield, he framed the one-stop shop design as a way to stabilize engagement and funding.
Lapointe also highlighted a renewed push into digital assets now that SoFi operates as a bank. He noted that “60% of respondents” in company surveys prefer trading crypto with a regulated institution and said SoFi’s ability to move funds directly from FDIC-insured accounts into digital assets is a clear edge. The coming SoFi stablecoin, he added, can be white labeled because “we are a regulated bank,” which he sees as key to building fee-driven financial infrastructure as economic conditions continue to shift.
