Levita Almuete Ferrer, a 64-year-old Maryland resident and former senior budget analyst in the State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol, pleaded guilty to embezzling $657,347.50 from the agency between March 2022 and April 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., announced.
Ferrer abused her signature authority over a State Department checking account, writing 60 checks to herself and three to an individual with whom she had a personal relationship, prosecutors said. She printed, signed, and deposited all 63 checks into her personal accounts.
To conceal her actions, Ferrer, also known as Levita Brezovic, manipulated a Quickbooks account. “She would enter her name as the payee on checks in Quickbooks and print them,” prosecutors said, noting she often altered the payee in Quickbooks to a legitimate State Department vendor afterward, obscuring her role as the recipient.
Ferrer pleaded guilty to theft of government property on Wednesday and faces up to 10 years in prison at her sentencing on September 18. Under her plea deal, she must pay full restitution and a forfeiture money judgment equal to the stolen amount.
It should be with 10% interest.