By Chris Fuchs
A Flushing woman was charged last week with siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars from her Manhattan investment firm employer and directing part of the money into a Queens Village pizzeria managed by her husband, authorities said.
Her husband has also been charged in the case.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office identified the couple as Anamarie and Salvatore Giambrone, of 143-08 Roosevelt Ave. in Flushing. The Giambrones were arraigned last Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of grand larceny. Anamarie Giambrone was being held on $250,000 bail, but her husband had been released on $150,000 bail, said Sherry Hunter, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney, Anamarie Giambrone, 33, bilked Eli Wachtel, her boss at the investment firm of Bear Stearns & Co., of at least $400,000 between October and July. She worked as a personal assistant for Wachtel.
An internal audit of his account showed that she may have stolen as much as $850,000, the district attorney’s office said.
The complaint said Anamarie Giambrone used erasable ink on checks she had Wachtel sign, later erasing the payee and the amount of the check, then making them out to herself or other people. In all, she is accused of stealing at least $400,000.
Prosecutors said that at least $142,000 had been used to pay off her husband’s credit card bills as well as to purchase a pizza parlor on Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village, appliances for the restaurant, furniture for his apartment in Flushing and a vacation. Salvatore Giambrone, 32, had learned that his wife was stealing from Wachtel about four or five months ago, the complaint said.
Salvatore Giambrone’s attorney, Peter Frankel, could not be reached for comment. The attorney who represented Anamarie Giambrone at her arraignment, Alexandra Boncarti, said her client had hired a new attorney whose name she could not provide. The Giambrones’ telephone number was not listed and they could not be reached for comment.
The pizza parlor, at 211-45 Jamaica Ave., remained open Monday night as two customers ate and watched television. A man who said he was the owner referred comment to his attorney, apologizing for not being able to answer questions.
— Adam Kramer contributed to this article.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
