UPDATE: A Boca Raton CFO Charged With Grand Theft, Money Laundering, Scheme To Defraud, Steals Close To $1M

Carolyn Hanson Charged With Grand Theft, Fraud, Money Laundering

LAKE WORTH, FL – Boca Post (BocaPost.com) — Carolyn Hanson of Lake Worth has been arrested and charged with several felonies, including grand theft and money laundering, according to jail records released to Boca Post by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Carolyn Hanson, 56, of the 6000 block of Green Island Circle of the Winston Trails Country Club in Lake Worth, has been arrested by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office on a felony warrant. Boca Post has been notified that the charges include:

• 812.014(12A) GRAND THEFT OVER $100,000
• 817.568(2C) FRAUDULENT USE OF PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION
• ORGANIZED SCHEME TO DEFRAUD ($50,000.00 OR MORE)
• 3 counts of 896.101(35C) MONEY LAUNDERING

The warrant was filed based on information originating from an investigation by the Boca Raton Police Department into allegations that Hanson was embezzling money from Gubagoo, a local corporation headquartered in Boca Raton. The entire arrest affidavit submitted by the Boca Raton Police Department can be found below:

On 07/08/21 Anna Goldberg, the director of finance for the company Gubagoo (4800 T-Rex Ave), called to report possible embezzlement. She advised that two company checks, valued at $1,000.00 each, were deposited at a Wells Fargo in Boca Raton. The first check (5896) worth $1,000.00 and written to Northwestern Mutual from Gubagoo dated 06/01/2020 was deposited on 06/26/2020. The second check (6085) worth $1,000.00 and written to Northwestern Mutual from Gubagoo dated 10/01/2020 was deposited on 11/23/2020.

Wells Fargo subpoenas were submitted and revealed the following: Both checks were deposited into a Wells Fargo savings account number that has the signature authority of CAROLYN FAYE HANSON, with an address of 7826 Elwood Drive, Lake Worth, FL, 33467, and a phone number of 561-818-6597. HANSON*s checking account number is While reviewing her checking account and savings account, I (Det. White) noticed multiple transfers of Gubagoo Payroll on the same dates. For every Payroll deposit in her checking account, an additional payment was deposited, into her savings account on the same date. The deposit transactions are:

• 05/08/2020 Checking $2406.81 – 05/08/2020 Savings $9117.81
• 05/22/2020 checking $2306.81 – 05/22/2020 savings $2466.48
• 06/05/2020 checking $2406.82 – 06/05/2020 savings $12,804.48
• 06/19/2020 checking $2306.81 – 06/19/2020 savings $6400.79
• 07/03/2020 checking $2352.96 – 07/03/2020 savings $6404.43
• 07/17/2020 checking $2352.97 – 07/17/2020 savings $4072.59
• 07/31/2020 checking $2352.96 – 07/31/2020 savings $3576.47
• 08/14/2020 checking $2352.97 – 08/14/2020 savings $5193.67
• 08/28/2020 checking $2352.95 – 08/28/2020 savings $5013.31
• 09/11/2020 checking $2352.97
• 09/25/2020 checking $2352.96 – 09/25/2020 savings $9521.04
• 10/09/2020 checking $2352.97 – 10/09/2020 savings $4512.78
• 10/23/2020 checking $2352.96 – 10/23/2020 savings $5013.31

I contacted Goldberg and was advised that HANSON was an employee of the company who was placed in a position of trust overseeing the financial aspect of the company. HANSON was hired in 2014 and was terminated on 11/2020. Goldberg advised that a few of the transactions were legitimate, however, the majority were fraudulent.

On 10/22/21, I sent another subpoena to Wells Fargo for additional bank records for HANSON. The additional records were received and clearly show that HANSON engaged in a systematic pattern of fraud dating back to 2014. HANSON transferred Gubagoo Payroll into three (3) different bank accounts that belong to her, she made transfers from those accounts to her other accounts, she made numerous deposits of Unemployment Compensation and Federal Unemployment Tax funds into her own accounts, she deposited numerous checks that were written to Gubagoo into her own accounts, she deposited checks that Gubagoo had issued to pay for their taxes and other bills into her own account, and created employee ledgers to conceal the funds going into her account by making it seem as if actual employees were being paid.

Goldberg advised that HANSON had admitted to them that she had stolen funds. Goldberg asked HANSON to send her bank statements so that they could determine what the total loss is. HANSON complied and sent her statements; however, upon reviewing them it was discovered that the statements were altered to conceal the fraud. As an example, the statement that HANSON sent Goldberg shows that on 01/04/2019, a payroll payment in the amount of $2384.64 was made into HANSON’s checking account ending in fF The next transaction on 01/04/19, shows an online transfer from to a Way2Save Savings account ending in i(The account ending in Bis a joint account between HANSON and her daughter Rebecca. No Payroll transfers were in account m7 In the certified copies of this exact statement from Wells Fargo, the transfer went into a joint account between HANSON and her son Daniel where multiple fraudulent Payroll transfers were made into. There are numerous altered transactions like this.

Also discovered in HANSON’s statements were business checks belonging to Omni Automotive South and Payroll payments from Omni Automotive. With the deposit of the checks intended for Omni, it was evident that HANSON was continuing her pattern of fraudulent activities with her new employer.

On 11/30/21, I contacted Kenneth Hudson, owner of Omni Automotive to alert him of the fraud taking place at his business. He confirmed that HANSON works for the company and stated that they just made her the Chief Financial Officer. In her new position, she complained that the former CFO was asking her too many questions and making it difficult for her to do her job. HANSON then had everyone, except for herself, removed from the bank accounts. He advised that HANSON did not have permission to deposit checks issued to his company. On 12/02/21, HANSON was fired and issued a trespass warning by Omni Automotive. They did not wish to prosecute.

On 12/02/21, I met with HANSON at the Boca Raton Police Department. In a recorded interview, she was advised of her constitutional warnings, she signed the waiver card, and agreed to speak with me. HANSON provided a full confession admitting that she did misappropriate funds. She advised that a friend of hers changed the account numbers on the statement that she gave to Gubagoo to conceal the accounts and that she was aware of it. She confessed to taking and depositing checks intended for Gubagoo’s business into her own account. She advised that her children are unaware of her usage of their accounts to transfer funds to and from them. She advised that she has control over her joint account with her son and that he does not pay attention to what’s going on with the account. HANSON advised that she took the money from Gubagoo because they were mean to her and that she was not being paid what she deserved. She felt that since they made so much money they wouldn’t miss what she took. HANSON did not know how much she had taken. I advised HANSON that the amount of loss so far is approximately $702,000 but that it is expected to increase. It should be noted that HANSON used the funds that she embezzled to purchase a home, pay for her daughter’s beauty school, do personal shopping, and made several plastic surgery payments.

When asked about where she is currently working, she advised that she was working for herself. When presented with the checks from Omni, she then confessed to taking them. She advised that she wanted to put the money back into Omni’s account and asked me not to call them.

On 12/14/21, I received additional information from Gubagoo showing that HANSON had created numerous profiles of employees, by using former employee information, and added her own bank account information into their employee ledger. This allowed HANSON to make fraudulent payroll transfers into her own bank account while concealing the transfer within the company by making it appear that someone else was getting paid. The following are the company profiles that HANSON used to transfer money into her own account while concealing it under stolen identities:

• Hanson’s account – Alexis Kennedy and Ed Lacey
• Hanson’s account – Adrienne Smith, Carrie States, Christopher McKenzie, Ian Bungart, Lauren Cohn, McKinney Haley, and Susan Buckley.
• Hanson’s account – Marcos Espinal

HANSON’s bank records reveal that there are over 500 fraudulent transactions committed by HANSON. Due to the excessive number of records and information, each transaction will not be listed in this report. However, an excel spreadsheet has been completed and is available.

One of Hanson’s accounts was used to commit fraud in the amount of $547,127.78. This includes numerous checks that HANSON wrote to herself and forged the Company owner’s name, checks that were written to Gubagoo by numerous businesses, and checks that were intended to pay Gubagoo’s bills. These accounts were also used to complete payroll deposits in the names of Gubagoo Hired Inc, Gubagoo U.C. Fund, Marcos Espinal, Hanson Carols, Carol Hanson, Carolyn Faye, Carol Hansen, Christopher McKenzie, Leigha Nagle, Carol Faye, Ian Bungart, Ericka Kent, and Carrie States. It should be noted that Gubagoo U.C. stands for unemployment compensation that should have been paid to the IRS. Rather than forwarding the payments to the IRS, HANSON deposited the funds into her own account in the approximate sum of $399,390.66. Monies from the account were used to fund another Wells Fargo account also in the name of HANSON and her daughter Rebecca Hanson. Funds from an account —were then used to fund the account number which is a Wells Fargo account in the name of HANSON and her daughter Rebecca.

Another one of Hanson’s accounts was used to commit fraud in the amount of $398,692.55. This includes payroll deposits in the names of Daniel Edward, Joshua Pye, Ed Lacey, and Daniel Aubin. Also included in this account are checks that HANSON wrote to herself and forged the Company owner’s name, Payroll deposits in the name of FUTA 940, and several checks that were written to and from Gubagoo business accounts intended for Gubagoo. It should be noted that FUTA stands for Federal Unemployment Tax that is filed through form 940. This is Federal Tax collected from employees that should have been paid to the IRS, however, HANSON fraudulently put the monies in her own bank account. Out of the total listed above in this paragraph, approximately $322,369.94 was fraudulently taken by HANSON instead of paying it to the IRS.

Another one of Hanson’s accounts was used to commit fraud in the amount of $3,686.32. This includes payroll deposits in the names of Amanda Edwards, Cheyenne Chrisman, Jose Santiago, and Kaitlyn Rivera.

HANSON was placed in a position of authority and trust while working for Gubagoo in the capacity of their financial officer. Since 2014, HANSON used this position to engage in
an elaborate scheme where she intended to defraud Gubagoo and others and engaged in a
systematic ongoing course of conduct that lasted for six (6) years. The total amount of
fraud is $949,506.65. This does not include HANSON’s legitimate payroll.

Boca Post has learned that according to social media profiles in Hanson’s name, she appears to represent “Hanson Consulting”. Hanson’s LinkedIn profile says she is an “Accounting Professional with privately and publicly held companies ranging values from startup to excess of $15 billion”.

Carolyn Hanson was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail at 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning. Hanson was released from jail after posting a $300,000 bond. Note, that Hanson’s bond was originally set at $600,000 prior to being reduced.