Upper Hudson Valley Woman Admits To Stealing $3.1 Million From Company

An upper Hudson Valley woman admitted she stole $3.1 million from her company during a 10 year period, which resulted in $25 million in losses.

On Monday, Diane Backis, 50, of Athens plead guilty to mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. Backis was the accounting manager for Cargill, Inc. in its Albany facility. The 50-year-old was tasked with creating customer contracts, generating and mailing invoices, and receiving and processing customer payments for the Minnesota based company which receives, stores, and sells grain products.

“Ms. Backis stole millions of dollars from her employer in a decade-long scheme to enrich herself so she could live beyond her means,” U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian stated. “She stole money by diverting customer payments to her personal bank accounts and sold grain products for millions less than her employer paid, causing enormous financial losses.”

As part of her plea deal, Backis admitted that she stole hundreds of customer payments sent to Cargill totaling at least $3,115,610 and deposited them into her personal bank accounts. She also regularly created fake invoices and mailed them to Cargill’s customers. The fraudulent invoices charged Cargill’s customers prices substantially less than what Cargill paid to acquire the grain products, causing Cargill at least $25 million in losses.

Backis also admitted that she filed a false 2015 individual income tax return.

Backis faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on March 28.

As part of her guilty plea, Backis agreed to pay Cargill at least $3.5 million in restitution.