Date: April 14, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Fort Myers, FL — U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Madelyn Hernandez of Lehigh Acres to 10 years in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering. As part of her sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $4,199,498.42, the proceeds of the wire fraud. Hernandez entered a guilty plea on January 28, 2025.
According to court documents, while Hernandez was employed by a textile and apparel supply chain company, she made false and fraudulent representations to the company to obtain money. Hernandez submitted fraudulent invoices via email from purported fabric supply companies and directed payment be sent to bank accounts that she controlled. As part of her scheme, Hernandez created and submitted false invoices purporting money due and owing to a fictitious company and another that was a defunct company for goods purportedly ordered and received. As a result of her scheme, between 2018 and 2024, Hernandez received a total of $4,199,498.42 from her employer.
Hernandez’s fraud came to light after the owner of the company found discrepancies in the company’s financial records, including inventory discrepancies and falsified business records. In June 2024, the company became aware that invoices, proof of delivery records, and inventory reports that Hernandez had submitted were fraudulent. As the company was investigating and unraveling the fraudulent records, Hernandez sent a message to her employer from a purported family member stating that she had died after an illness and complications with surgery. The company contacted law enforcement.
In October 2024, agents with the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and FBI executed a search warrant at Hernandez’s residence. Hernandez admitted to agents that she had emailed invoices to the company for payment and had used the money deposited into her account, held in a fictitious company name, for her own personal expenses and for gambling. Further, she admitted to sending the message to her employer stating that she had died.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.