ANTIOCH — A Bay Area woman who worked as a bookkeeper for an Antioch flooring company and as treasurer for a Daly City church is accused of using both of those positions to commit a multi-million dollar crime that went undetected for years.
Prosecutors have charged Karin Tufono, whose name is also listed as Karin Tufono Fa’apouli, with wire fraud, alleging she “initiated at least $6 million in fraudulent transfers” from her employer, Republic Floor, to accounts she controlled. These included Tufono’s personal bank account and the bank account of the Samoan Congregational Church of Jesus Christ in Daly City, where she served as treasurer, according to the charging documents.
Though prosecutors have listed the “at least $6 million” estimate in their court filings, Republic Floors put the number at $7.036 million. A lawsuit filed by the company last year alleges that Tufono embezzled the money, and distributed it to herself and four others — including a relative who serves as a pastor at the church — to “cover up” her crime. It says she later admitted embezzlement to both her employer and later the FBI, including during a recorded confession with an FBI agent.
The lawsuit, which lists Tufono, the church and Chase Bank as defendants, is still active. A lawyer for the church responded with a nine-page court filing saying allegations that the church did anything wrong are without “reasonable cause.”
In criminal court, Tufono has yet to enter a plea. The charging records say the fraud scheme started in 2022 and lasted until her employer discovered it and fired her in August 2024.
Prosecutors allege she “falsely recorded who the payments were going to, recording the payments to herself as payments to Republic Floor vendors or ‘U.S. Customs,’ knowing that Republic Floor made regular payments to U.S. Customs as a matter of course in conducting its flooring business.”
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