FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, February 10, 2023

Defendant Diverted Nonprofit’s Funds to Personal Accounts

            WASHINGTON – Keane Sims, 28, of Camp Springs, Maryland, was ordered to pay $30,000 restitution and sentenced to five years of probation for defrauding the Friends Community on National Legislation, a national nonprofit organization, by diverting organization funds to personal accounts. The sentence was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Sims pleaded guilty in December 2022, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to second degree felony fraud. The Honorable Neal E. Kravitz also ordered six months of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, Sims made 12 fraudulent transfers from the organization to two personal bank accounts in July and August 2018, totaling more than $40,000. Sims, who was employed by the company as an accountant and responsible for maintaining the organization’s accounts payable, used her access to the organization’s accounting and cash management systems to steal the funds and hide the fraudulent transactions by manipulating vendor payee information.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Financial and Cyber Crimes Unit. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian P. Kelly and Benjamin D. Bleiberg, who investigated and prosecuted the case.