Woman who stole $3.8M is sentenced for bank fraud

A woman who stole more than $3.8 million from the company that publishes Honolulu Magazine through a scheme the judge called “intricate” and that the prosecutor said was “exquisitely executed” was sentenced in federal court Thursday to four years in prison.

Johanne P. Jarlego, 45, has until June to turn herself in to begin serving her sentence.

U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi handed Jarlego the four-year sentence for bank fraud. Kobayashi also sentenced Jarlego to three years in prison for filing a false tax return by not listing money she stole as income. Both sentences will run at the same time.

In addition to the prison terms, Kobayashi ordered Jarlego to pay $1,393,367 in restitution.

Jarlego had been charged with 32 counts of bank fraud and four counts of filing a false tax return but pleaded guilty to one count of each in a plea deal with the government. She admitted that between June 2008 and February 2012 she deposited checks from advertisers of Honolulu Magazine and Ala Moana Shopping Magazine worth $3,833,640 into the bank accounts of phony businesses she created.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Tong told Koba­yashi that Jarlego hijacked 700 checks meant for her employer, then “presented herself extremely well” to convince American Savings Bank employees that the checks were meant for Honolulu Trinkets, Books and Magazines and Ala Moana Trinkets, Books and Magazines. In order to conceal her actions and continue the fraud, Tong said Jarlego “cooked the books” and repaid her employer $2,428,600.

From November 2004 to March 2015, Jarlego worked as a credit analyst for AIO LLC, handling accounts receivable. AIO is the parent of PacificBasin Communications, which until 2012 published Ala Moana Shopping Magazine, and continues to publish Honolulu Magazine and other periodicals.

Jarlego’s restitution amount includes $571,761 owed to PacificBasin Communications, the $725,000 American Savings Bank repaid PacificBasin and $96,606 she owes the Internal Revenue Service for tax year 2013.

The amount would have been higher had Jarlego and her husband not agreed to turn over their Ewa Beach home, a 2014 Lamborghini sports car, 2008 Porsche automobile, firearms, jewelry and designer handbags. An agent for PacificBasin sold the items. The company pocketed the difference between the sales prices and what was still owed on the home and Lamborghini. Jarlego also faces civil judgments for the taxes she owes for 2011, 2012 and 2014.