VIRGINIA BEACH — A Norfolk woman was sentenced Friday to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay over $390,000 in restitution for embezzling that amount from the company for whom she provided bookkeeping, accounting and payroll services.
According to court documents, Nakai Koyenhan, 46, who pleaded guilty to forging the securities of an organization in November 2018, was employed by Church Point Manor, LLC to provide bookkeeping, accounting and payroll services.
Koyenhan stole more than $327,000 from the company by forging over 300 checks over a period of approximately three and a half years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
She also made fraudulent wire transfers from the company bank account to her personal bank account and to her personal credit card, totaling an additional $63,000. In total, Koyenhan stole more than $390,000 from Church Point Manor, which operated a well-known bed and breakfast/restaurant in Virginia Beach that was forced to close as a result of the embezzlement.
Prosecutors said Koyenhan made “false entries” in the accounting ledger she maintained for Church Point Manor. She would, for example, change the names of the payees and amounts on the forged checks she had written in order to make it appear that they were payments for legitimate business expenses.
Koyenhan spent the money, among other things, to make car loan payments and rent payments, to purchase a wedding ring and wedding supplies, and to travel to various destinations, including Nigeria, prosecutors said.