A woman who used to work as general manager at Hank’s Oyster Bar in Alexandria, Virginia, has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to several felonies stemming from a massive embezzlement case at the restaurant.
Claude Ibrahim, 53, pleaded guilty to nine counts of felony embezzlement and eight counts of misdemeanor embezzlement. She admitted stealing nearly $700,000 from the business.
“This is one of the most egregious embezzlement cases I’ve seen, both for the total amount of money that was diverted from the business as well as the overall length of time that the scheme existed,” said Alexandria Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
A judge gave Ibrahim a sentence of 30 months in prison, although she could get more if she doesn’t pay the money back.
So far, Ibrahim has given back $90,000 but she still must return the remaining $591,000, according to Porter.
“I think the sentence actually is pretty significant for a white collar case,” Porter said. “The judge recognized the severity, both of the scheme itself as well as the overall dollar amount that was stolen.”
In May of last year, Porter announced that a grand jury had indicted Ibrahim in connection with the scheme, which lasted from 2014 through 2022.
Ibrahim admitted stealing money from the company by creating fake employees on paper and “paying them,” submitting time sheets for them and funneling the money into her own accounts.
“When you have somebody involved in that lengthy of a fraud scheme, there are a lot of criminal decisions that are being made throughout the course of the scheme,” Porter said. “It’s a repeated decision over and over again to commit additional criminal acts.”
Hank’s Oyster Bar is a well-known restaurant that has been around since 2005. It has three locations, including the one in Old Town Alexandria.
The other two are in D.C. at The Wharf and in the Dupont Circle area.
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