CPI Employee Who Bilked 55 Million From Company Is Sentenced In Canada

NEWMARKET, ON -- A former Crane Payment Innovations employee who bilked the company of $5.5 million was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay the full amount embezzled within the term of her sentence.

Natalia Pouchkina, 55, of Richmond Hill, ON, had worked in CPI's Vaughan office (and its predecessor firms) for 14 years. She was a CPI senior manager between March 2014 and May 2015, during which time she allegedly exploited her position of trust and misappropriated funds through 32 fictitious transactions by circumventing the company's internal controls.

Ontario Justice Nyron Dwyer sentenced the former CPI employee last week in a Newmarket courtroom.

To pull off her scam, Pouchkina created a shell company called "Avnet Memmec," similar to Avnet Memec, a real parts supplier for the company, according to Crown attorney Brian McCallion, who prosecuted the case. When CPI management confronted her about the accounting incongruities, Pouchkina fled Canada for Europe in late May 2015.

Pouchkina bought luxury cars and homes in Montreal, Berlin and Spain. The estimated value of her four European properties is said to be $2.36 million. If she fails to pay back what she stole, Pouchkina will get an additional five years added on to her sentence.

Crane Payment Innovations is part of Crane Co., which also builds vending machines. CPI provides unattended payment solutions for vending, gaming, retail and transportation.

SOURCE: The Toronto Sun