Canandaigua woman will appear in court after she’s charged with embezzling over $2 million

UPDATE: A Canandaigua woman accused of stealing more than $2 million from her former employer will face a judge around 2 p.m. on Thursday. Sarah Fantauzzi is accused of embezzling money over seven years from RES Exhibits LLC.

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — A Canandaigua woman was arrested and charged Tuesday after allegedly stealing over $2 million from her employer in Rochester.

Fifty-year-old Sarah Fantauzzi reportedly embezzled $2,178,303. A civil complaint stated that the embezzlement occurred over a period of seven years during her time at RES Exhibits LLC.

Fantauzzi was hired as a human resources director by RES back in 2012. Six years later she was then promoted to executive vice president and was compensated $175,000 plus benefits, the company said. As EVP Fantauzzi was responsible for overseeing RES’ employee payroll.

In court documents News10NBC obtained, it states unbeknownst to RES, Fantauzzi decided to embezzle millions from November 2012 to June 2019.

During her initial months of employment, the court document state, Fantauzzi accurately reported her weekly salary through the payroll system but studied the system for possible workarounds to embezzle money.

The court documents further state she then came up with a plan in November and December of 2012 in which she used unapproved travel reimbursements to increase her take-home pay by over $12,000.

The court documents also indicate another scheme by Fantauzzi to manipulate the payroll system to create not one but two payments, her regular paycheck and a second payment. That money was directly deposited into a bank account in her name outside New York state.

Fantauzzi retired in June 2019, and it wasn’t until several months later that the company learned of the alleged embezzlement and began an investigation.

“This finding led to an exhaustive investigation which included a forensic review of relevant company records after which it was determined Fantauzzi stole millions from the company,” RES lawyer John DeMarco said.

Fantauzzi was arraigned Tuesday morning on the charge of grand larceny in the first degree. News10NBC reached out to Fantauzzi but hasn’t heard back. News10NBC also contacted an attorney that has represented her in the past and he had no comment. Fantauzzi is due in court later this week.

You can read DeMarco’s full statement below.