This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com A man who used to work in tech in Seattle was sentenced to prison for facilitating three separate fraud schemes — involving work, the pandemic and his love life. Westcott Francis-Curley, 31, will spend three years in prison and will have to pay nearly $700,000 in restitution after being found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, announced the U.
S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington Friday. “Mr.
Francis-Curley’s fraud spiral stemmed from greed,” Acting U.S. Attorney Miller said via the release.
“After his employer discovered his theft, he stole from a program designed to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. And when those proceeds were gone, he committed identity theft against his former romantic partner. This sentence is an important step to break the cycle of fraud.
” Former Seattle tech worker begins scheme in 2023 Francis-Curley has been in custody since March 2024, following an indictment in August 2023. The attorney’s office, citing records filed in the case, stated Francis-Curley started his first scheme in 2019 when he embezzled money from his former employer by misusing cloud computing resources and accounts he had access to as an employee. He used employer funds and his employee authorization to purchase cloud computing resources and then sell or lease them back to the company, paying himself with company money — obtaini.