Minneapolis police investigated a report that SHANNON CAROL SHANAHAN [DOB REDACTED] (“Defendant” herein), had conducted a multi-year embezzlement of her former employer, LumiData Inc., a company located in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. The investigation revealed that, from October 1, 2016, to May 31, 2023, Defendant stole over $310,000 from LumiData. Defendant was the manager of financial controls at LumiData from 2011 through May of 2023. In this role, she performed accounting-related functions and was responsible for tasks such as managing payroll, drafting checks, and creating W-2s for employees.
In early 2023, LumiData transitioned to a new payroll processing company and the transition required Defendant to report employee income information to the payroll processor. However, she failed to present the information, and she started missing work. Prompted by Defendant’s actions, LumiData’s CEO began to investigate the company’s financial records. The financial records showed multiple checks had been written to Defendant that were not in the general ledger of all transactions for the business.
Records also showed that Defendant wrote two to four checks a month to herself in addition to her regular payroll checks beginning in October 2016 through May 2023. LumiData personnel confirmed that Defendant would have had the authority to create the payroll checks, but she was supposed to bring the checks to LumiData’s CEO for his signature. LumiData’s CEO also used a rubber stamp of his signature to sign checks, and he was the only person authorized to use the rubber stamp. The checks issued to Defendant to which she was not entitled appeared to have the rubber stamp signature since all of the signatures were identical.
On June 2, 2023, Defendant participated in a Zoom interview with attorneys who represented LumiData in the company’s investigation into Defendant’s embezzlement. During the interview, Defendant agreed that her duties included payroll and the company had previously switched from direct deposit to paper checks, so she was responsible for preparing the physical payroll checks for authorized signatures. Defendant confirmed that she reviewed the company’s bank statements every month and she was responsible for reconciling the bank statements with the company’s Quickbooks.
She agreed that she was supposed to receive two paychecks every month, and that the paycheck amount was essentially the same amount every pay period. When Defendant was asked about certain checks that she received, she abruptly ended the interview. The attorneys sent a letter to Defendant on June 7, 2023, in which they discussed the investigation results and their belief that she had embezzled over $310,000 from LumiData. In her response, Defendant said, “My apologies to everyone that this has affected.
