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Ex-cfo Avoids Jail Time For $833K Theft From Jersey Shore Tech Firm: Prosecutor

An ex-chief financial officer and CPA has avoided jail time in the Monmouth County lockup while paying more than $800,000 in restitution to his former employer, authorities said.

Scott Lifshitz

Scott Lifshitz

Photo Credit: LinkedIn

Scott Lifshitz, 60, of Brick Township, had previously been CFO of a Matawan-based financial services technology company, they said.

Lifshitz was sentenced to two years’ probation on Friday, May 12 after he pleaded guilty to stealing from his employer, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said.

Lifshitz was sentenced by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O’Malley.  During the sentencing, O’Malley noted that Lifshitz had previously paid restitution in the amount of $833,000, the prosecutor said.

Lifshitz pleaded guilty to second-degree theft of movable property in February after an investigation by detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. 

The prosecutor did not name the company.

The investigation revealed that Lifshitz oversaw the daily financial operations of the company and had access to all of the company’s bank accounts. In that capacity, he was able to write company checks payable to himself and to initiate wire transfers of company funds into his personal accounts, Santiago said. All of these transactions were unauthorized, he said.

On the day Lifshitz was terminated from his role in the company in September 2022, he unsuccessfully attempted to deposit two additional company checks into his personal bank accounts, but he had already been removed as an authorized signatory on the company accounts, Santiago said.

The founders of the company reported the theft to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office shortly after Lifshitz was terminated, he said.

MCPO Detectives confirmed his activity through interviews with the founders and by reviewing subpoenaed bank records and other documents establishing the theft which occurred over a period of roughly two years from September 2020 through September 2022, the prosecutor said.

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