The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota (USAO-MN) has announced a 51-month prison sentence for a woman who spent most of the $2.7m she embezzled from her employer on gambling.
The US District Court in Minneapolis handed down the sentence to Destiny McKayla Combs, 37, on Wednesday. The USAO-MN took to X to share Combs’ prison term, which is followed by three years of supervised release:
According to Acting US Attorney Joseph H. Thompson, Combs used her dual role as the Accounting Manager for “a surrogacy agency and affiliated law firm” to steal from her employers.
Combs managed the finances, including taxes and statements, for both companies over nine years. Thompson stated, however, that: “Combs treated her workplace like her own personal slot machine.”
used her employer’s funds to pay the resulting credit card bills
The DOJ press release described the convicted felon’s scheme as a simple one. Combs used her own credit cards to pay for an online gambling habit, then used her employer’s funds to pay the resulting credit card bills.
Combs’ ruse ran out of steam after the owner agreed to sell her the surrogacy agency upon his retirement in 2023. According to the USAO-MN, as the sale date neared, “Combs abruptly quit and moved to Florida,” prompting an investigation which revealed her February 2019 to June 2023 crime spree.
During sentencing, Thompson said Combs’ actions reflected a “disturbing wave” of financial crime flooding Minnesota. “From private companies to public programs, fraud has seeped into every corner of our state.” The US Attorney warned the Feds will “continue to attack this fraud plague with everything we’ve got.”
