HARRISONBURG, Va. — The former head of a local economic development authority in Virginia, accused of embezzling $5.2 million through a series of sham transactions, was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in federal prison, ending a legal drama that included death for suicide of a county sheriff who was also involved in the crimes.
Jennifer R. McDonald had a blank expression inside Harrisonburg District Court when a judge reprimanded her for using her position as head of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority to divert money between 2014 and 2018 to purchase properties, paying bills and gambling. debts and enrich family and friends.
“This was the community she claims to love and she betrayed that community,” said Judge Elizabeth Dillon, who also ordered McDonald to pay $2.7 million in restitution to the economic development authority, which gained possession of some properties. McDonald’s.
McDonald, who owes another $9 million in fines as part of a civil lawsuit against her, was accused of orchestrating a dizzying array of bogus land transactions and wire transfers that involved fabricated invoices and forged signatures to make it appear that those deals were signed. carried out on behalf of the economic development authority.
After being charged in 2021, she claimed that the transactions were sanctioned under a legal settlement she had reached with the economic development authority after she was sexually assaulted by one of its board members and another county official.
Those charges, and the settlement agreement his attorneys presented, were trumped up, federal prosecutors said.
The biggest land deals involved Truc “Curt” Tran, who had approached the economic development authority in 2018 with plans to build a data center and retail complex that would generate 600 jobs and act as a catalyst for others. Projects.
Tran said he did not know that McDonald forged his signature – using “Curt Tran” instead of his legal name “Truc Tran” – to purchase another property, known as “Buck Mountain,” the $2 million price paid with money from the economic development authority. .
Federal investigators said McDonald then sold the property at a $600,000 loss just three weeks later and kept the profits in a shell company he created with former Warren County Sheriff Daniel T. McEathron called DaBoyz, which also profited. of other bogus land transactions.
The sheriff, who was never charged, committed suicide in 2019, after local officials began to question the transactions and Virginia State Police appeared to have launched an investigation.
A federal jury found McDonald guilty of 34 counts of money laundering, bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft this year.
On Wednesday, Tran, who was initially charged with being an accessory to the transactions before a state grand jury determined that he and his company had done nothing wrong, told McDonald in court that his scheme ruined his business and forced him to pay $1 million in legal compensation. fees in an effort to clear his name.
“I still don’t know where Buck Mountain is, even though you wrongly claimed to have purchased property there,” Tran told McDonald, who was looking straight ahead.
Dillon sentenced McDonald to 168 months in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release. He will begin that sentence at the end of June.
Her $2.7 million debt will be paid in monthly increments of $25 or half of what she earns in prison (whichever is less) until she is released, the judge ruled. After that, monthly payments will increase to $300.
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