Legal Issues

Prominent Dallas Family Embroiled In Bookkeeper's $29 Million Embezzlement Scheme

Prominent Dallas Family Embroiled In Bookkeeper's $29 Million Embezzlement Scheme

A Texas woman who was employed as a bookkeeper for a family-run charitable foundation has pled guilty to a $29 million embezzlement scheme.

Credit: Boonchai Wedmakawand/Getty Images

According to an official release from the United States Department of Justice, 74-year-old Barbara Chalmers, of Lewisville, admitted that beginning in 2012, she started abusing the privileges granted to her by a wealthy Dallas family. 

Bloomberg shared details about the case, noting that the family in question was the children and grandchildren of late Republican Congressman Jim Collins. Collins passed away in 1989 but his family has continued his legacy. 

Chalmers served as bookkeeper for the family's aforementioned charitable foundation and several other for-profit companies. 

According to the DoJ, Chalmers fraudulently wrote herself at least 175 checks, which were deposited into her personal accounts. To hid her scheme, Chalmers then gave the family's tax preparers falsified documents that misstated the year-end balances of accounts from which she was embezzling. 

In addition to paying various personal expenses, Chalmers used over $25 million of the stolen money to fund a construction business for which she was president.

Credit: Guy Cali/Getty Images

In a statement, Collins family attorney Ephraim Wernick said, “Not only did Ms. Chalmers brazenly abuse the trust the family placed in her, but she also stole millions of dollars from a charitable foundation dedicated to improving the lives and health for so many in need in the Dallas community."

The family first noticed red flags last year following the death of Collins's wife, Dorothy Dann Collins Torbert.

Torbert had previously managed the family's corporations and charity on her own.

Chalmers pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison at sentencing. A sentencing date has not yet been set. 

What do you think about Barbara Chalmers's embezzlement scheme?

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Feature Image Credit: Edward Olive (EyeEm)/Getty Images

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