Former Worley & Obetz controller sentenced to federal prison for role in massive bank fraud
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
The former controller for the Manheim-based Worley & Obetz energy firm has been sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for her role in a $65 million bank fraud mounted by company officials.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said Thursday that Judith Avilez, 60, of Elizabethtown, also was ordered to pay $15 million in restitution by U.S. Eastern District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl.
Avilez pleaded guilty in September to charges that from 2016 through May 2018, she helped Worley & Obetz CEO Jeffrey Lyons defraud Fulton Bank by creating fraudulent financial statements that grossly inflated the accounts receivable for the firm’s largest customer, Giant Food.