Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to $1.4 Million Embezzlement Scheme

BOSTON – A Canadian man pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Boston to embezzling more than $1.4 million from his employer and its clients.

Adil Rahman, 36, of Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before United States Senior District Judge William G. Young, who scheduled sentencing for Dec. 9, 2024. Rahman was charged in July 2024. 

Rahman worked in Ontario, Canada as a credit analyst for Company A – a subsidiary of a large electrical distribution and services company based in Pittsburgh. As part of his job, Rahman interacted with clients of Company A concerning invoices for the company’s services.  Between November 2022 and December 2023, Rahman directed certain customers of Company A to pay their invoices via ACH transfers to his personal bank account, rather than to the account of Company A.  

For example, in or about November 2022, Rahman sent an email to the accounts payable department of Company B – a nonprofit municipal corporation based in Hartford, Conn. – asking if the company would be interested in paying future invoices to Company A by ACH transfer rather than by check. When Company B agreed to do so, Rahman provided his personal account information to Company B. Thereafter, under the false impression that it was sending the money to Company A to pay the invoices it owed, Company B sent at least 15 ACH transfers to Rahman’s personal account between December 2022 and June 2023. 

Likewise, in May 2023, Rahman emailed the accounts payable department at Company C – a privately held provider of corporate security systems based in Andover, Mass. – asking if Company C wished to pay future invoices by ACH transfer. Once again, when Company C agreed to do so, Rahman provided his personal bank account information and Company C thereafter made 11 ACH transfers to Rahman’s personal account between May 2023 and July 2023.

In total, through this scheme, Rahman defrauded Company A and its clients of more than $1.4 million.

 The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen E. Frank, Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit, is prosecuting the case.