MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING AT LEAST $60 MILLION.Byline: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer A former chief financial officer for Day-Lee Foods Inc. pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling at least $60 million from his Santa Fe Springs-based employer. ``As far as I know it is the largest embezzlement embezzlement, wrongful use, for one's own selfish ends, of the property of another when that property has been legally entrusted to one. Such an act was not larceny at common law because larceny was committed only when property was acquired by a "felonious taking," i. case in history, in the United States anyway,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Larson. ``It is staggering what he was able to embezzle embezzle To take illegally something of value being held in custody for someone else. from this company.'' Yasuyoshi Kato, 39, appeared in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to seven charges including wire fraud, bank fraud and tax evasion The process whereby a person, through commission of Fraud, unlawfully pays less tax than the law mandates. Tax evasion is a criminal offense under federal and state statutes. A person who is convicted is subject to a prison sentence, a fine, or both. . Kato, who could not be reached for comment, remains free on bail until his Sept. 22 sentencing date. From 1990 to early 1997, prosecutors contended, Kato stole millions from Day-Lee Foods Inc., a meat exporter, and used the company's own lines of credit to shore up the firm's dwindling accounts. According to some court documents, the millions financed a lavish lifestyle including a beachfront beach·front n. A strip of land facing or running along a beach. adj. Situated along or having direct access to a beach: beachfront hotels; beachfront property. Noun 1. condominium, $1 million in stocks, 20 horses, expensive furniture, an exotic car dealership, two huge Rolling Hills estates and other property home to llamas, emus and ostriches. Prosecutor Larson said Kato regularly went to to his Wells Fargo ATM in Cerritos and deposited checks for more than $400,000 a pop. Meanwhile Kato's income taxes reflected far less. In 1995, for example, Kato reported only his $105,000 Day-Lee Foods salary on his federal income tax forms, omitting the almost $14 million he had embezzled em·bez·zle tr.v. em·bez·zled, em·bez·zling, em·bez·zles To take (money, for example) for one's own use in violation of a trust. , Larson said. Though prosecutors have stipulated in court records that Kato took $60 million, the defendant previously told IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. auditors he took $85 million to $95 million. Kato told auditors that 70 percent of it went to his estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. wife, Doris Ann Kato, who disputes that. Larson would not say whether Doris Ann Kato is under criminal investigation and he would not disclose the terms of the plea agreement that induced Yasuyoshi Kato to plead guilty before he was formally charged. The prosecutor would only say that Kato agreed to pay full restitution - or as much of it as he can afford. But much of the money already has been spent and Larson is uncertain how much will be recovered by selling off the illegally obtained property. ``I don't know how you can spend that much money,'' Larson said, ``but he, apparently, was able to.'' |
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