The former in-house counsel of an Ocean County-based home health care company was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using his attorney trust account to steal more than $2.6 million from his employer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Matthew S. Neugeboren, 39, of Manalapan, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. Cooper imposed the sentence on Feb. 9 in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From 2006-13, Neugeboren was in-house counsel for a home health care company in Ocean County. As such, Neugeboren maintained an attorney trust account to pay for the company’s expenses. To cover those expenses, Neugeboren requested checks and wire transfers be made from the company’s bank accounts into his attorney trust account.
As part of the scheme, Neugeboren caused the company to transfer more money into his attorney trust account than was necessary to cover company expenses. Neugeboren admitted he used the additional money for his personal benefit, including gambling. Neugeboren admitted that from January 2008 through December 2012, he stole $2,644,912 from the company.
In addition to the wire fraud scheme, Neugeboren knowingly and willfully filed a false tax return that failed to include approximately $630,000 in gross income that he received in calendar year 2011 from his scheme to defraud the company.
In addition to the prison term, Cooper ordered Neugeboren to serve three years of supervised release, entered a forfeiture order of $1,404,963 and ordered him to pay restitution of $1,404,963 to the victim company and $474,814 to the IRS, according to the U.S. Attorney.