Embezzler gets prison time for bilking charity
An East Bay man was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling more than $800,000 from a Marin County philanthropist and her charitable foundation.
Michael Livingston Henry, 45, of Oakland worked as the woman’s office assistant from 2006 to 2018. The philanthropist and the foundation were based in Tiburon and then Bolinas, according to court records.
“While employed there, Henry stole in excess of $800,000 by forging the philanthropist’s signature on hundreds of checks, many of which were made out to Henry personally or to his side business, Hella,” the U. S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco said in an sentencing announcement.
“The philanthropist was seriously ill with cancer in 2016 and 2017 — a time when Henry continued to be entrusted with full access to financial and account records — and she discovered the embezzlement only after her recovery in 2018,” the prosecution said.
A federal grand jury indicted Henry in February 2019 on 10 counts of bank fraud and four counts of identity theft. He accepted a plea offer early this year, admitting to two counts of bank fraud. The prosecution dismissed the remaining counts.
The sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 9 before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco. The prosecution sought a five-year sentence, calling Henry a “shapeshifter” who manipulated the victim and “claimed to love her.”
“Defendant’s conduct was despicable,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Wawrzyniak wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “This is not a run- of-the mill embezzlement case where an employee steals money from a faceless corporation.”
The victim wrote a letter to the court saying she will be “haunted by this for the rest of my potentially shortened life.”
“I am left in utter alienation and despair, my ability to trust in new people completely shattered,” she wrote.
In a court filing, Henry’s lawyer, Alan Dressler, asked the judge for a “minimal custodial sentence, followed by a period of home detention” so Henry could continue therapy and care for his terminally ill husband. Dressler said his client “grew up in a severely dysfunctional environment” but nonetheless has performed volunteer work for nonprofits and has no other criminal record.
Judge Breyer ordered Henry to surrender to prison by April
19. He also ordered Henry to pay $891,205 in restitution.
The prosecut ion calculated the restitution at $1,170,244. The amount was reduced after Henry agreed to forfeit his share of the Bolinas property he co- owned with the victim.
The victim, in her letter to the judge, said prosecutors drastically understated the losses. She said Henry “systematically siphoned off” more than $3.3 million.
“Whole categories of fraud remain uncharged: Wire fraud, credit card fraud, tax fraud, computer fraud,” she wrote. “Their numbers indicate only the check forgery analysis, the low-hanging fruit of bank fraud charges that they were willing to bring.”