June 28, 2001 – A former employee of the Virgin Islands Lottery, Sonia Foy, has pleaded guilty to embezzling $11,930 in lottery funds.
She was the second V.I. Lottery employee to be charged with fraud this year. In April, former lottery director Alec Dizon pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges.
Foy was accused of collecting cash from lottery dealers whose checks had bounced, issuing them receipts for the cash, but keeping the money, instead of turning it over to the lottery.
The standard way dealers pay for the tickets they sell is by check. If any checks are returned for insufficient funds, the dealers must reimburse the lottery for the check amount plus pay a returned-check fee.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's office, the embezzlement of which Foy is accused occurred during the five-month period July 1 – Nov. 30, 1998.
A recent audit of the V.I. Lottery found that fraud and mismanagement within the program had cost the territorial government in excess of $3 million in lost revenues.
Foy was arraigned Thursday before Magistrate Judge Geoffrey W. Barnard and pleaded guilty to one count of federal program fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment or a fine of $250,000 – or both.
The fraud was uncovered in an audit conducted by the office of the U.S. Inspector General and local auditors working with that office, according to U.S. Attorney David L. Atkinson.
