By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-16 14:21:36 | Updated at 2024-10-16 16:29:50
2 hours ago
A Texas woman who scammed the military out of more than $100million has demanded to keep her Army pension.
Janet Mello, 58, is serving a 15-year sentence in prison for stealing $109 million from the Army, where she worked as a financial manager.
Mello, known as the 'Gucci Goddess,' is now fighting to keep her $4,475 monthly government pension as federal prosecutors attempt to seize the payments as restitution.
Prosecutors have said she does not need 95 percent of her roughly $50,000-a-year pension while the government takes care of her living costs in prison.
They are proposing that she keep just 5 percent of her benefits - about $224 a month, for 'her commissary needs.'
Janet Mello, 58, is serving a 15-year sentence in prison for stealing $109 million from the Army , where she worked as a financial manager
'Mello unlawfully enriched herself by fraudulently siphoning Army funds intended for meaningful youth development opportunities for military-connected children to her personal accounts, prosecutors said in court, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News.
'Accordingly, it is appropriate for the United Sates to offset the monthly annuity it pays her while it also bears the cost of her imprisonment and seeks to recoup its losses.'
Mello retired from the military after her home was raided in August 2023. An Army spokesperson said the military was bound by law to allow her to retire even though she was being probed in a federal case.
Mello created a shell company in 2016 before splashing out on multiple McMansions, 82 supercars, motorcycles and flashy designer jewelry over six years.
Mello with her husband outside the courthouse in July
Mello bought several homes with the stolen money - including the one pictured above
The San Antonio native swindled money from a youth development program for children in military families to fund her extravagant lifestyle.
She pleaded guilty in March to five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a tax return.
During the final hearing in San Antonio, prosecutors detailed how Mello made lavish purchases over the mammoth fraud, including spending $923,000 on jewelry in a single day in 2022.
She had been working as a civilian employee at Fort Sam Houston when she began stealing money in 2016.
Mello was a financial manager who handled funding for a youth program at the military base and determined whether grant money was available.
She created a fraudulent group called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, prosecutors said.
US Attorney Jaime Esparza said Mello 'betrayed the trust of the government agency she served and repeatedly lied in an effort to enrich herself'.
Prosecutors detailed how Mello made lavish purchases over a mammoth six-year scam, including spending $923,000 on jewelry in a single day in 2022
Mello used the money to buy millions of dollars of real estate, clothing, high-end jewelry and 82 vehicles that included a Maserati (pictured), a Mercedes, a 1954 Corvette and a Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle
'Rather than $109 million in federal funds going to the care of military children throughout the world, she selfishly stole that money to buy extravagant houses, more than 80 vehicles and over 1,500 pieces of jewelry,' Esparza told the court.
Defense attorney Albert Flores countered that Mello is deeply remorseful. 'She realizes she committed a crime, she did wrong and is very ashamed,' he said.
Flores added Mello has saved many things she bought with the money and hopes the items are sold to reimburse the government.
Prosecutors said Mello used the fake organization she created to apply for grants through the military program.
Prosecutors said Mello used the fake organization she created to apply for grants through the military program. (Pictured: Mello with her husband outside the courthouse)
Mello embezzled money from a youth development program for children in military families and used it to fund her extravagant lifestyle - including several mansions (one pictured)
She filled out more than 40 applications over six years, illegally receiving nearly $109 million, assistant US Attorney Justin Simmons wrote in a court document asking for Mello to be sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.
Mello used the money to buy millions of dollars of real estate, clothing, high-end jewelry and 82 vehicles that included a Maserati, a Mercedes, a 1954 Corvette and a Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle.
Agents executing a search warrant in 2023 found many of the vehicles with dead batteries because they had not been operated in so long, Simmons wrote.
Prosecutors said Mello was able to steal so much because of her years of experience, expert knowledge of the grant program, and accumulated trust among her supervisors and co-workers.
'Mello's penchant for extravagance is what brought her down,' said Lucy Tan, acting special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation's field office in Houston.
