Bookkeeper charged with embezzling $1M from employer

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A bookkeeper has been charged with embezzling $1 million from her employer, a commercial plumbing company based in Bay Shore, officials said Thursday.

Domenica Giordano of Islip Terrace has been charged with first-degree grand larceny for allegedly embezzling the $1 million from All Systems Maintenance, according to Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney.

“Small businesses are an integral part of our local economy,” Tierney said in a written statement. “My office takes all allegations of theft from hard-working business owners very seriously. If you steal in Suffolk County, we will hold you accountable.”

Giordano’s attorney Richard Kaufman told Newsday that his client did not take the money.

“My client already passed my own polygraph test and I offered to let them use their own and they declined,” Kaufman told Newsday. “I’m really disappointed that the DA took this story to the press. The story of this case speaks for itself.”

Investigators say that Giordano was employed as a bookkeeper at All Systems Maintenance for about 17 years. In May 2020, the owner of the business allegedly asked Giordano to help her access the corporate bank accounts. After waiting several days, the owner went directly to the local branch of her bank to personally review the accounts, the DA’s office said. That’s when she discovered alleged unauthorized withdrawals of more than $1 million that dated back to September 2015, prosecutors said.

The DA’s office said that between 2015 and 2020, Giordano allegedly began writing checks to herself without the company owner’s knowledge or permission. She allegedly signed the checks using a rubber stamp of the owner’s signature and allegedly deposited the corporate funds into her personal account and her friend’s business accounts. These deposits were allegedly then used to pay off credit card balances for herself and that of her friend.

Giordano is due back in court on April 3.