A former AU employee pleaded guilty May 20 to stealing nearly $400,000 worth of checks made out to AU law journals over a period of six years, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Martine Tavakoli will be sentenced for interstate transportation of stolen property on Sept. 22 and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Tavakoli worked at the AU Law Review, a student-run legal journal, from 1981 through September 2009.
Tavakoli, 49, of McLean, Va., worked first as an administrative assistant for the Law Review and was promoted in 1998 to coordinator, law journals, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
In September 1998, Tavakoli opened a new bank account under the joint name "AULR c/o Martine Tavakoli," using the AU taxpayer identification number and her own home address at a branch of SunTrust Bank in McLean, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Officials say Tavakoli deposited checks made payable to the Law Review and the other law journals in the secret bank account, a total of just under $400,000, from January 2003 to June 2009. As part of her plea agreement, she will pay back this sum to AU's law journals.
AU personnel confronted her about the account in September 2009, when she confessed to using the funds to pay her rent, credit card bills and other personal expenses on a regular basis, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Tavakoli's theft and transport of the funds to Virginia is a federal felony, according to Ben Friedman, special counsel to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
The next step is the filing of sentencing memoranda, in which the two sides make arugments for how long Tavakoli should serve in prison. The memoranda must be submitted by Sept. 10, according to Bill Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
After that, Tavakoli will be sentenced in a public hearing on Sept. 22 in front of U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Miller said.
While the maximum sentence can be up to 10 years, Friedman said sentencing guidelines recommend 18 to 24 months in prison and repayment of stolen property.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Mary Petras is representing Tavakoli in the case, according to the D.C. Federal District Court, but Petras was unavailable for comment.
SunTrust Bank representatives declined to comment, citing confidentiality.
Lepre said university policy prohibits her from discussing Tavakoli's employment and termination.
sdazio@theeagleonline.com
