A woman from Danville was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison for embezzling over $1.7 million from Men’s Wearhouse and its parent company Tailored Brands, federal prosecutors said this week.
Gina Suzanne Lonestar, a former Men’s Wearhouse employee, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Lonestar, 52, admitted that in December 2010, she devised a plan to create a fake vendor to defraud Men’s Wearhouse and Tailored Brands of money by submitting and approving false invoices for the fake vendor, prosecutors said.
She fabricated a document claiming the vendor was a sole proprietorship linked to a family member. She then began submitting and approving invoices, falsely stating the vendor was operating at Men’s Wearhouse stores in California, such as inspections and handyman work, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lonestar admitted that she approved false invoices in the name of the fake vendor for approximately eight years, defrauding the apparel giant of over $1.7 million, which was deposited to her bank account. She also admitted that the family member with whom she supposedly co-owned the company performed none of the work for which she provided invoices, prosecutors said.
Lonestar served as a senior director of Men’s Wearhouse’s facilities department and vice president of the retailer’s construction and maintenance division. She was director of the facilities department when she devised her scheme, prosecutors said.
Lonestar’s scheme ended in 2019 when the company discovered the conduct during an internal audit. She was authorized to approve invoices for work done by vendors the whole time she worked for Men’s Wearhouse, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In September 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Lonestar, charging her with six counts of wire fraud. But due to her plea agreement, she pleaded guilty to one count and the court dismissed the remaining counts during her sentencing hearing.
Besides her prison time, Lonestar is ordered to pay $1,736,216 and to serve three years of supervised release, which will start after she leaves prison, prosecutors said. On Dec. 1, there will be a hearing to determine issues on restitution regarding the verdict.
Lonestar will begin serving her sentence on Jan. 5, 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
22 Months for stealing over a million dollars? Was the judge a relative? How about ten years?
Zillow values home at $1.8 million, would like to see forced sale of her home to satisfy restitution.
Stole $1,700.000. and in prison for 22 months.
1 month = $77,272.72 payback via incarceration.
No wonder crimes continue and recidivism pays off for criminals.
Sign me up! I can do incarceration and be paid $77,272.72 per month.
Who’s the judge that only gave her 22 months???
The judge is a weak sister!
You forgot the part where she has to pay it all back, AND do prison time
I have been in the financial services industry for decades. In my first training class at my first employer when I was fresh out of college, my group was admonished should anyone succumb to the temptation of theft, they would be caught and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In my career I have worked with two people (at different companies) who did the false vendor/false invoice thing. Their arrests, which were witnessed by dozens of co-workers in each office, were loud, dramatic and capped off with a perp walk to leave not doubt of the consequences of theft. Each of these people did prison time. Criminality has consequences.
“You’re gonna like the way you look in your new prison outfit, I guarantee it.”
— George Zimmer
I do not condone stealing . However, I do believe in equal justice under the law. If you commit a crime of any kind , you should be held accountable and suffer the consequences. When are the people that just walk into a retail business, on a daily basis to steal merchandise , groceries, money, etc going to be held accountable? ( I work in a grocery store, they wipe out our meat counter on a daily basis) . Becton has already stated that if they can show a need, no charges. Really??? And we are not allowed to do anything to stop these criminals. What about the people that burned, looted and murdered a few years ago , when are they going to be held accountable? We are living in a lawless society, when it benefits the powers that be.
@America
How have times changed! A decade or two ago, when I was doing my grocery run for the day, I saw a grocery store cashier doing the perp walk because, as I was told, he was hooking up his family and friends to free and discounted groceries by not ringing the groceries up or by changing grocery prices.
Every so often you would see someone get in trouble for trying to steal groceries, now they are so bold that thieves will sue if they are stopped from walking out the store without paying.
When you kick out democrats from White House and Sacramento!
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She did it because of global warming.
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Remember, “climate change” is the negative cause of EVERYTHING.
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That, and racism.
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Pick one.
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Lives in Danville – Likely a Trumper – doesn’t look like a Dem on FB.
Steal $1.7 million and get just 22 months in prison? This wasn’t just a one-time poor decision. It was nine years of decision after decision to steal. White collar crime really does pay.
Again, she has to pay it all back. She will have to sell her house.
Your democrats did that.
That’s it?! Embezzle $1.7M ….. and all you get is < 2yrs? How much did Becton's re-election campaign fund get as a donation?i
I wonder if that paid for her kids to go to DLS and SMC….
She lives in a $1.8 million house and currently has $1.3 million of equity available. Can her former employer file a $1,736,216 plus interest lien against that house?
She will never pay that amount back.
I worked for The Men’s Wearhouse for 21 years. I’m actually surprised she was charged at all. Over the years there were quite a few people that were caught stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise. Not a one was ever charged, just fired. I guess $1,700,000 was too much to forgive. I knew her, not well. I was in stores, she was at corporate. Very sad.
22 months for almost 2 million? In a country club jail for non violent offenders? CRIME PAYS!!!!
“You’re gonna love the way she steals”.
It’s kind of incredible that anyone would do this: yeah, 1.7 million is a lot of money, but for someone who already has a pretty successful career, to risk all of it for 1.7 mil over 8 years?? Jail time, total impossibility of recovering a career after this, friendships and relationships torched, shame for the rest of your life, having to pay it back anyway. Why take all that risk? She had way more to lose than to gain.