A former Chief Financial Officer of a staffing firm in Chicago has been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $510,000 from his employer. Charles Nelson, 67, of Valparaiso, Indiana, admitted to misappropriating the funds during 2018 and 2019 while working at the company’s Chicago office.
According to court records, Nelson used unauthorized credit card purchases for personal expenses. These began with meals and travel but later included luxury items such as Cartier and Rolex watches, a gold and diamond bracelet, high-end home appliances, jewelry, gold, and renovations for his residence. Investigators said Nelson was able to carry out the scheme by bypassing several internal corporate controls on expenditures.
Nelson pleaded guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge. On August 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced him to more than two years in prison and ordered restitution totaling $510,319.
The sentencing was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, along with Dai Tran, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Chicago Field Office.
“Defendant squandered the company’s money on extravagant items, such as gold, coins, jewelry, trips, and meals,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “His offense was not an isolated lapse in judgment or simple mistake. It was a carefully orchestrated pattern of theft from a company that trusted defendant to serve as CFO, and his offense took a financial and emotional toll on the honest, hard-working employees left in its wake.”
