Ex-CFO accused of fraud, identity theft in Baltimore case

Federal prosecutors in Baltimore say a former chief financial officer at Maccaferri used executives’ identities, altered emails and fabricated documents to siphon unauthorized compensation and benefits through payroll systems in the U.S. and Canada. Teresa Desy Majo, 42, of Annandale, Virginia, was indicted on wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and possession of a perjured immigration document.

Authorities say the alleged scheme ran from January 2021 through May 2024 and reached both Maccaferri USA and Maccaferri Canada. Majo served as CFO for the North American arm of Officine Maccaferri S.p.A., the Italian geotechnical engineering company whose U.S. operations include Maccaferri, Inc. and whose Canadian arm is Maccaferri Canada Ltd. Prosecutors say she used multiple executives’ identities to fraudulently approve employment benefits and compensation, then submitted the false paperwork to payroll departments.

The case highlights how fraud can move through ordinary business processes when finance controls are too dependent on one trusted insider. If the allegations are true, the weak point was not just an employee login or a single approval signature but the company’s ability to verify whether executive emails and benefit authorizations were authentic before payroll acted on them. In a finance department, altered correspondence, backdated approvals and repeated requests for extra compensation are all warning signs that merit a second review, especially when the request touches both pay and identity records.

Prosecutors also say the alleged conduct did not stop when Majo was fired. They allege she withheld that termination and lied to immigration authorities to obtain lawful permanent resident status, adding a separate layer of identity abuse to the payroll scheme. U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes and FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul announced the indictment and said the FBI’s work was critical to the case.

If convicted, Majo faces up to 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud, a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft and up to 10 years for possession of a perjured immigration document. Prosecutors stressed that an indictment is not a finding of guilt and that Majo is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.