John Dunlea, formerly the CFO of the New Jersey-based law firm McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, has been sentenced to five years in state prison for embezzling $1.5 million over the same amount of time.
Dunlea admitted in May that between January 2017 and December 2022, he paid himself unauthorized compensation amounting to $1,182,965. He also admitted to misleading the firm into covering his personal credit card expenses for international and domestic flights, hotels, and restaurant outings for himself and his family, totaling $355,256.
“The defendant admitted to giving himself a staggering, unauthorized, and illegal seven-figure pay raise, and treating himself and his family, at his employer’s expense, to travel, hotels, and meals,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “Today’s sentence demonstrates the Division of Criminal Justice’s firm commitment to holding individuals accountable who exploit positions of trust to commit financial fraud.”
The case garnered attention when it was revealed Dunlea’s wife, Nicole Alexander, who also worked at the firm as director of legal recruiting, lost her job upon the discovery of her husband’s theft.
She has said she had no involvement in the matter and has filed a counterclaim against the firm, citing the firm’s “unwarranted” claims against her as “misogynistic.” Most recently, she has also argued that her husband’s recent bankruptcy filing shouldn’t affect her ability to pursue the case against her former employer.
Financial Controls Failure
According to court filings, one of Dunlea’s responsibilities as CFO was managing and overseeing the firm’s wage and salary payment processes. This also included the paying and accounting for salary increases and bonus payouts.
It appears as if Dunlea was able to pay himself more than he was allotted for a significant amount of time, while also being able to control visibility on how corporate credit cards — like the ones he used to charge his luxurious trips — were being spent.
