Brickbat: Cooking the Books

Former U.S. State Department budget analyst Levita Almuete Ferrer has pleaded guilty to embezzling $657,347.50 by abusing her authority over a department checking account. Ferrer wrote 60 checks to herself and three to someone she knew personally, depositing them into her own accounts. She tried to cover her tracks by altering records in QuickBooks to make it look like payments went to legitimate State Department vendors. Ferrer admitted to theft of government property and faces up to 10 years in prison.