Tracey Smith, a chief financial officer, already was facing federal charges for embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from two separate employers when she got hired by a new company — and began stealing from it too, according to prosecutors.
Then, after serving less than 10 months incarceration on wire fraud charges, the government said she was hired by yet another company and stole from it as well.
In all, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh, Smith defrauded four employers for more than $1.1 million combined.
On Tuesday, Smith, 58, of Clairton, pleaded guilty to four counts of bank fraud and was ordered to serve 76 months in federal prison and pay restitution. She had previously pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud.
“Each employer paid her close to a comfortable six-figure income, with benefits and the privilege of holding an executive position. She was treated professionally and respected,” the government wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Instead of performing her job duties with integrity, it continued, “she likely was secretly contriving just how quickly she could manipulate management in gaining access to company financial accounts which she would use to pay down debts, or for personal expenditures such as utilities bills, travel, tuition, mortgage payments and car loans.”
In the first case filed in 2020, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in connection with defrauding two companies.
It was her first time through the federal court system, and she received a low-end sentence of 15 months incarceration with an order to pay $113,000 in restitution.
But as that 2020 case was pending, Smith was hired in June 2022 to serve as a controller for a Pittsburgh engineering firm where she had payroll authority.
According to the government, while working there, Smith used two company credit cards to pay for personal expenses totaling $51,520. Smith reimbursed herself for company expenses for $188,123, prosecutors said, and she used company checks to overpay herself $426,659.
She worked for the company for 47 weeks, the government said.
In April 2023, when Smith was required to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving her 15-month sentence on her first conviction, she told her new employer that she was leaving to “take care of her ‘sick aunt,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote.
Smith was released from prison in February 2024. A few months later, she was hired by another Pittsburgh area company as a financial controller. She had complete autonomy over the company’s financial systems, the government said.
There, she forged checks to herself and to petty cash, prosecutors said, “resulting in staggering losses of $498,653.
“The financial and emotional impact of these most recent embezzlements to the last two respective company owners is saddening: deep financial troubles, employee layoffs, credit issues, personal health problems and the breach of trust to the employers,” the government wrote. “For smaller companies such as the last two victims, recovering from these staggering financial losses will leave permanent scars.”
The victim companies are not named in the sentencing memos.
According to Smith’s court filing, she experienced extensive trauma in her youth and attempted to cope with it through compulsive gambling.
“Gambling provided her with fleeting moments of happiness,” her attorney wrote.
But also, the filing continued, “because of her problematic gambling, every cent she made from working was disappearing.”
Smith also struggled financially because her husband had a drug addiction, her attorney wrote.
In her sentencing memorandum, Smith’s attorney told the court that she is close to her children and grandchildren.
“Tracey is planning for what life will look like when she gets out of prison. She is ready to address her PTSD and gambling disorder through mental health treatment,” the filing said. “She wants to allow her family to support her, instead of trying only to support them and hide her problems.”