Woman admits to stealing $1.3 million

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Westport woman waived her right to indictment and pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.3 million from three charitable foundations.

Soozi Folsom, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in front of a U.S. District Judge in Hartford.

Folsom was a financial manager for a Westport-based accounting firm that had been retained by three charitable foundations.  

According to court documents, between September 2008 and November 2011 she generated at least 124 fraudulent checks from the foundations to "Groundhog, LLC," an entity she controlled.

She covered the fraud by manipulating transactions in the accounting software systems that handled the foundations' accounting and bookkeeping.  

Through the scheme, she stole a total of $1,385,159.82.

She was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service because she transferred about $62,000 out of the country while she was under federal investigation.

Folsom will be sentenced on December 7. She faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years and a fine up to $2.7 million.