The former property manager at a Brickell condominium is facing charges in a “ghost employee” scheme that bilked the condo out of over $140,000, authorities said.
Yissely Herrouet, 37, is facing charges of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, offenses against computer users and false entries in books of a business entity, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
The alleged scheme was carried out while Herrouet was the property manager of the Club at Brickell Bay condominium from 2016 to 2023, authorities said.
Herrouet, an employee of one of America’s largest property management companies, is accused of paying paying people, including some relatives, for services that were never provided or for duplicate services that were already being performed, officials said.
Her former employer had performed a forensic examination that found Herrouet falsified timesheets and signed new hire paperwork for people who didn’t work for her company or the condo association, then billed the phantom work back to the association, authorities said.
Prosecutors said that through her position, she was also allowed to select an outside vendor owned by a family member to provide cleaning and janitorial services.
“Thefts from condominium and homeowners’ associations continue to be a major priority of my Economic Crimes prosecutors, as too many of these property owners have been victimized by thefts,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “I have long advocated for and helped change Association laws, so property owners have transparency and accountability from their Associations. This arrest is the result of my ongoing focus to protect our homeowners.”
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