'Mommy and Clyde' duo get four years in prison for $16m NYC embezzlement

'Mommy and Clyde' duo get four years in prison for $16m NYC embezzlement

by: New York Post
From: NewsCore
December 21, 2011 7:08AM

FOR almost a decade, they lived like a queen and a prince - tooling around in yachts, private planes and a $127,000 Mercedes. But today, mother and son embezzlers Judy and Joseph Del Galdo were sentenced to at least four years prison for swiping $16 million from Judy Del Galdo's New York City bookkeeping job.

A parole board could keep the Del Galdos in prison for as long as 12 years under the sentence handed down by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon.

The pair pleaded guilty to grand larceny in November after Manhattan prosecutors caught them conspiring to plunder the two companies where Judy Del Galdo, who lived in Sayreville, New Jersey, had worked for 22 years - Hi-Fashion Fabrics, Inc, and Timeless Treasures Fabrics, Inc.

She would siphon off funds into a dummy company called Tea-Rific Beverage, Inc, for which Joseph Del Galdo, who lived in Buford, Georgia, was the sole signatory.

The plunder financed the son's ambulance companies, paid for three homes, and - in addition to the Mercedes - a $55,000 Infiniti QX56, prosecutors said.

The Del Galdos have reimbursed the fabric companies by forfeiting some $1 million to $3 million worth of property. They are technically on the hook to repay the many more millions remaining, but there is simply nothing left, their lawyers said.

"We've turned over four houses," said Richard Portale, who represents Judy Del Galdo. "And cars and memorabilia," added John Pappalardo, a lawyer for her son.

Among the expenditures traced by the District Attorney's financial investigators were $500,000 in flights on private jets, $458,000 in other travel and hotel expenses, $368,000 in payments toward a million-dollar yacht, $564,000 in credit card payments and $330,000 in payments for luxury suites and sponsorships at Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands Sports Complex.


Read more at the New York Post.