Fleeing to Costa Rica after allegedly embezzling more than US$36 million from a Los Angeles company and using most of it to pay off his credit card bills , Paul McDaniel, 42, is not back in the U.S. after being extradited from Costa Rica.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, McDaniel worked for an accounting contractor employed by Hypermedia Systems Inc., a media-technology services firm. As part of his job, McDaniel was charged with making payments to Hypermedia vendors. According to the indictment, McDaniel formed a corporation using a name similar to one of Hypermedia’s vendors, then directed more than US$36 million in funds to shell company and created bogus invoices on letterhead of actual Hypermedia vendors to justify the expenses.
McDaniel allegedly used the stolen funds to pay off US$23 million in credit card debt, and transferred another US$8 million to his personal bank accounts.
McDaniel, also known as Edward Martin Karuku, was arrested in Costa Rica in early 2017 and remained in custory pending his extradition to Los Angeles, where he now faces 10 counts of wire fraud, each of which carries up to 20 years in federal prison.
