It’s one of the largest white collar criminal cases ever in Hawaii.
A woman accused of stealing nearly $7 million from the non-profit she worked for.
In December 2017, Lola Amorin plead not guilty to multiple charges of theft, computer fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
On June 6, 2018, the 70-year-old woman changed her plea to no contest.
For more than 30 years, she worked as a senior accountant for Arc Hawaii, a non-profit that serves people with disabilities.
Prosecutors say she stole nearly $7 million to pay for a lavish lifestyle, using the money to buy five homes, cars, fund lavish vacations, expensive home renovations and family members.
Prosecutors added that she spent $50,000 a month on credit card bills for a period of 10 years. However, prosecutors believe she stole more than they could prove.
“I’m confident the losses exceeded $8 million, at least,” said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Van Marter. “We just didn’t have enough bank records to charge an extra million dollars because law doesn’t require financial institution to keep records beyond seven years.”
Her husband, Albert Amorin, was also charged with tax evasion crimes and pled no contest today as well.
The investigation was triggered by a routine audit of the Arc’s fiscal year 2016 records. Discrepancies led the Arc to identify Amorin as the person responsible.
She was immediately reported to police.
“The theft, especially for the last 10 years averaged a minimum of $50,000, you can imagine the amount of impact it had on the services that they are trying to provide to their clients,” Van Marter added.
“Every one of us has been affected by this and we’ve gone through lots of emotions,” said Arc Hawaii Executive Director Lei Fountain. “What I tell our staff, which is our family, is keep doing what you do.”
As for whether Arc Hawaii will get back any of the money Amorin stole?
“We are going to have a restitution order for them, they can be filed as a civil judgment-they are never going to collect even 1/4 of what was stolen,” Van Marter added.
Lola Armoin faces up to 111 years in prison, her husband Albert faces up to 41 years. Sentencing will take place in August 2018.
