A 48-year-old man from Olympia was sentenced on Thursday (September 11), in a US District Court docket in Tacoma to 18 months in jail for wire fraud related to a big embezzlement scheme that supported his playing dependancy, in keeping with Appearing US Legal professional Teal Luthy Miller.
Matthew Randall Ping admitted guilt in June 2025 to wire fraud and to submitting a false tax return. Prosecutors mentioned he stole almost $900,000 from his former employer, the State of Washington, and spent a lot of it at casinos.
Olympia suspect’s ‘extreme’ playing dependancy drove crime
In the course of the sentencing, US District Choose Tiffany M. Cartwright identified how central playing was to the crime. “Your crime was very severe however was pushed by extreme dependancy…. Playing dependancy can destroy the life of somebody who’s in any other case an upstanding citizen,” Choose Cartwright mentioned.
Former Washington state worker sentenced to jail for embezzling almost $900,000 – Manipulated bank card fee processing system and expense evaluation system to steal from state company https://t.co/dBQrjpMVNa
— WDWAnews (@WDWAnews) September 11, 2025
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Dane Westermeyer, who had requested the court docket to impose a 33-month sentence, was direct about how Ping used the stolen cash. “He used this stolen taxpayer cash to gas his playing behavior, fund not less than six journeys to Las Vegas, repay a luxurious car mortgage, and in any other case assist his way of life,” Westermeyer wrote in his sentencing memo.
He added, “And, maybe not surprisingly, he did not report any of the earnings from his theft on his federal tax returns, which resulted in a tax lack of almost $250,000.”
In court docket, Ping admitted that he had tried to get assist for his playing drawback however mentioned there have been few assets obtainable. Choose Cartwright inspired him to push for higher providers and stronger laws to assist others coping with the identical dependancy as soon as he’s out of jail.
Court docket information present that Ping began working on the Washington State Workplace of Administrative Hearings in 2009. By 2017 he had turn into a Administration Analyst and the division’s bank card custodian. Between 2019 and 2023, he arrange pretend vendor accounts that allowed him to divert $860,756 into his personal accounts, and he additionally made $17,359 in private purchases at Verizon and Walmart. Investigators mentioned he carried out a complete of 210 fraudulent transactions.
Largest insider embezzlement in Washington in 15 years
Appearing US Legal professional Miller described the theft as each historic in scale and damaging to the general public’s belief. “This theft was not simply the most important insider embezzlement from Washington State within the final 15 years, it additionally undermines belief in our state monetary safeguards,” Miller mentioned. “Mr. Ping not solely cheated state taxpayers, he cheated on his federal taxes as effectively by failing to pay the earnings taxes he owed on ill-gotten acquire.”
The scheme was first found by the Washington State Auditor’s Workplace, and Ping resigned in 2023 after it got here to gentle. He has agreed to pay again $1,118,362 in restitution to the state, its insurance coverage firm, and the IRS.
After finishing his 18-month jail time period, Ping will spend three years on supervised launch.
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