An Athens-area accountant faces decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after prosecutors say she defrauded clients for years to help pay for luxury items.

Suzanne Brooks, 42, of Bogart, pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

According to court documents, Brooks was an accountant from 2013 to 2018 for two people who both owned real estate companies in Georgia. Brooks has been given access to paper checks and online banking login credentials for their businesses at several FDIC-insured institutions.

Authorities said Brooks was using business bank accounts to make multiple payments on personal credit card balances for her and her husband from various credit card companies, without the victims’ permission. Brooks used the money to pay for her living expenses, including utilities for her home, insurance payments, restaurants, first class travel, online shopping, retail shopping, fine jewelry and to purchase inventory for his parallel tiered clothing business. marketing company, prosecutors said. When his personal credit cards developed balances, Brooks repeatedly used victims’ funds to pay off those balances at his discretion and without their authorization.

Brooks concealed his theft by falsifying profit and loss statements and other files in accounting software used by companies, leading the two victims to believe their companies were less profitable than they were. in reality. Brooks also altered bank statements and wrote himself dozens of unauthorized checks.

In total, Brooks caused at least $ 659,106 in predicted casualties.

“These small business owners thought their family businesses were less lucrative, when in fact their trusted accountant was crushing part of the profits to pay for his lifestyle,” said acting US attorney Peter D. Leary. “Fraud has a negative ripple effect that too often brings down a small business, leaving people unemployed and destroying years of effort and hard work. Our office, together with our law enforcement partners, will hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes and the damage they cause. “

Brooks will be sentenced at a later date.

The matter was investigated by the FBI.

Assistant US Attorney Lyndie Freeman continued the case.

© 2021 Cox Media Group