OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:06 AM – Sunday, May 4, 2025
A former Biden administration State Department budget analyst has pleaded guilty after being accused of embezzling over $650,000 over two years.
64-year-old Levita Almuete Ferrer of Maryland illegally wrote 60 checks to herself and three to someone she had a personal relationship with, as she held the signature authority over a State Department checking account.
Ferrer was actively stealing the public funds between March 2022 and April 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington D.C.
“She printed and signed each check and then deposited all 63 checks, which totaled $657,347.50, into her personal checking and savings accounts,” a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office read.
Prosecutors claim that Ferrer attempted to conceal her crimes by changing the “listed payee in Quickbooks from herself to an actual State Department vendor. As a result, anyone viewing those entries in the Quickbooks system did not see Ferrer’s name as the payee on the checks unless they accessed an audit trail.”
As part of her plea agreement, Ferrer will pay $657,347.50 in restitution to the federal government and faces up to 10 years in prison.
“This case was investigated by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General and Diplomatic Security Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Sona Chaturvedi,” the release stated. “Essential investigatory work was conducted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Orville of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.”
U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper set the sentencing date for September 18th.
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