MINNEAPOLIS — A California woman faces charges for allegedly embezzling more than $1 million from her Minnesota-based employer.
A federal grand jury indicted the 47-year-old, the U.S. attorney’s office said Monday. Mai Houxiong Charges involving wire fraud, identity theft and filing false tax returns in connection with embezzlement schemes.
According to court documents, Xiong worked as a financial manager for a Minneapolis company that provides financial services to homeowners associations in the Twin Cities. Her work included bookkeeping and gave her access to the finances, bank accounts, vendor and contractor payments and other sensitive bookkeeping information of the homeowners association with which the company worked, records show.
Court documents show that between February 2015 and February 2022, Bears misappropriated funds from these accounts in the form of HOA fees paid by residents to the association that were supposed to pay for maintenance, construction and other expenses. Records show that she transferred funds directly from the HOA bank account into her personal account, marked it as a legitimate charge, and used her signed authorization to withdraw cash from the account.
The documents show that Xiong was fired by the property management company in July 2021, but continued to withdraw money from the HOA account and receive unemployment insurance benefits after finding another job.
She faces five counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, four counts of making and subscribing to a false return, and one count of failing to file a personal return. She will return to court at a later date.