Prison Time for Minnesotan Woman who Embezzled and Gambled Away $2.7M

Several days ago, Destiny McKayla Combs, a woman from Minnesota, was sentenced to 51 months of prison and 3 years of supervised release following an investigation by several government agencies.

It was discovered that Combs had been embezzling money from her employer to pay off her gambling debts.

The amount of money taken was over $2.7 million, almost all of which was gambled away.

Combs was the Accounting Manager for both a surrogacy agency as well as an affiliated law firm.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson described the situation: “Combs treated her workplace like her own personal slot machine.”

Money Stolen, Money Lost

Documents show that Combs was the Accounting Manager for both the agency and the law firm for around 9 years.

Combs was the one handling finances, taxes, and financial statements.

In 2022, after announcing his plan to retire, the owner agreed to sell the surrogacy agency to Combs.

At that point, she was a trusted member of the management team; however, as the date of the sale approached, Combs quit and moved to Florida.

Fraud Unveiled

It was revealed after an investigation that $2.7 million had been stolen between the years 2019-2023.

Combs was addicted to online gambling, which, while she did finance it with her own credit card, she would then go and use company funds to pay the bill on the credit card.

By exploiting her position and the trust placed in her, she would falsify entries in both companies’ books to make it seem as though the bills had been just business expenses.

By the end, the payments to her American Express card reached a total sum of $2,723,025.

Adding Fuel to the Fire

While under probation and awaiting trial, Combs traveled to several cities under pretenses, including New York City, Tucson, Miami, Seattle, as well as several visits to Las Vegas.

During her sentencing, Judge John M. Gerrard called out Combs’ continued violation of the travel restrictions placed on her by the court and mentioned that it would have an effect on the sentence.