A man who gave his company credit card to an escort he met online has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for the resulting $5.79 million fraud scheme.
It’s been more than two years since Scott Kennedy, 46, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He later took the witness stand at the trial of that escort, Crystal Lundberg. In front of exasperated jurors, he explained in 2019 how Lundberg repeatedly took advantage of him, sending his credit card balances soaring. He had begun to see Lundberg and her children as family, and he said, “I was trying to be a provider.”
But Lundberg did not act alone. Together, Kennedy and Lundberg racked up millions in charges on an account belonging to the company where he worked, Nemera, a drug device company with a plant in Buffalo Grove. Kennedy has admitted he forged records while at Nemera to cover it up.
U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo held Kennedy’s sentencing by video conference Thursday, an unusual move prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. In a lengthy statement, Kennedy apologized and said, “I will continue to be sorry for the rest of my life.”
Before handing down the sentence, the judge told Kennedy, “it’s hard to imagine what you really got out of this. In the end, of course, nothing.”
Late last year, Bucklo gave Lundberg, 34, more than four years in federal prison for the massive fraud. She did so after Lundberg tried to throw Kennedy under the bus, telling the judge he’d given her his permission to make the purchases and told her, “anything you’d like.”
Despite being sentenced more than seven months ago, records show Lundberg has not yet reported to prison. Bucklo has given her until the end of September to surrender — another delay due to the pandemic.
Back in 2015, Kennedy was a high-ranking, formerly married financial executive. He repeatedly hired Lundberg as an escort before eventually agreeing to let Lundberg and her daughters move in with him.
His personal credit balances soon began to soar. Then, he said Lundberg asked if she could use his corporate credit card from Nemera to give her daughters a big Christmas. He said he gave in.
The couple then went on a massive spree that prosecutors said included $970,000 spent on travel and transportation, $606,000 on clothing and accessories and $585,000 for a planned medical spa that Lundberg would run, adding up to $5.79 million in all.
Kennedy testified that Lundberg told him she had a $4 million trust fund that would vest when she turned 30, and the couple planned to pay Nemera back with that money. Though she allegedly told him her adopted father had been an insurance executive who revolutionized the industry, Kennedy never met him. Still, he sent personal tax documents to Lundberg, supposedly to deliver to her father.
“I trusted Crystal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kennedy said he had begun to feel “scared” and “nervous” and suffered “all sorts of anxiety” about his fraud. He said he checked into a hospital for suicidal thoughts in June 2016 and then called Lundberg to tell her about it. Later, on the phone, he said she told him,” I want my Superman back.”
Kennedy said he asked Lundberg to bring his diabetes medicine to the hospital. She never did, allegedly claiming she became hospitalized herself for kidney stones. Kennedy later discovered a ticket to the NBA Finals from that same time period, and Lundberg allegedly told him she’d taken her nephew there for his birthday.
