Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Boston PR firm's former CFO charged with embezzling $3.6 million

The US Attorney's office today charged Edward Abell, 44, of Gloucester, with wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly embezzling $3 million from Racepoint Global, a Boston-based public-relations and marketing firm.

Abell allegedly funneled money to a Gloucester accounting firm he owned, the feds charge:

It is alleged that between 2006 and his departure in 2016, Abell embezzled over $3.6 million from his employer by writing company checks to Pinehurst Tax Associates - a firm Abell owned. However, Pinehurst allegedly did not provide any services to Abell’s employer. Rather, it is alleged that Abell used Pinehurst as a shell company through which he channeled embezzled funds to personal bank accounts.

In order to avoid detection, Abell allegedly created fake profiles for Pinehurst within his employer’s internal vendor database and attributed all the fraudulent payments to Pinehurst as “Professional Services” in the financial accounting system. Abell also allegedly filed false personal tax returns with the IRS, which failed to report the millions he obtained through Pinehurst.

In addition to the criminal complaint, the United States obtained seizure warrants for several of Abell’s assets allegedly acquired with fraudulent proceeds. As part of the operation, federal agents seized a 2015 Porsche Macan S, a 2015 Ford F-350 Super Duty, and an E*TRADE brokerage account all owned by Abell or held in his name.

In 2016, Abell became CFO at Bulger Partners, another Boston firm that specializes in consulting for software companies. The company this week removed all traces of him from its Web site.

Innocent, etc.