Gambling Habit Fueled $2.7M Fraud by Minnesota Woman

Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Minnesota woman has been ordered to federal prison in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement case.

The Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota says 37-year-old Destiny McKayla Combs was accused of stealing more than $2.7 million from her employer to feed a gambling habit. The embezzlement occurred while she worked as the accounting manager for a surrogacy agency and an affiliated law firm in the Twin Cities.

Trusted Employee Accused of Defrauding Employer for Years

According to court documents, Combs was employed by the firms for about nine years and was “solely responsible for managing both companies’ finances, including taxes and financial statements.” The charges stated that she was such a trusted member of the management team that the company’s owner agreed to sell her the surrogacy agency when he retired in 2023. However, the sale was never finalized because Combs “abruptly quit and moved to Florida.”

Federal prosecutors say an investigation found that between February 2019 and June 2023, Combs stole approximately $2.72 million from the two businesses. The charges say she used personal credit cards to fund her gambling, then paid those bills with company funds while covering up the scheme by making fraudulent entries in the company’s books.

Prosecutors Call Fraud “Part of a Disturbing Wave”

“Combs treated her workplace like her own personal slot machine,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “Combs’s crime is part of a disturbing wave of fraud sweeping across Minnesota. From private companies to public programs, fraud has seeped into every corner of our state. We will continue to attack this fraud plague with everything we’ve got at the federal level.”

A news release on the case also indicates that while under pretrial supervision, Combs repeatedly violated the terms of her release by traveling to various locations, including Las Vegas, without the knowledge of her probation officer. The federal judge handling her case cited those violations when sentencing her to 51 months in prison.

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