Marlins Man Defrauded Of $1.5M From Bookkeeper

A bookkeeper pleaded guilty this week to embezzling over $1 million dollars from South Florida lawyer Laurence Leavy, otherwise known as Marlins Man.

Maria Alonso, who worked for Leavy for 17 years, confessed in federal court on Thursday after writing over 1,000 phony checks to herself from Leavy's personal and business accounts since 2009, totaling over $1 million, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Leavy discovered the fraud during an audit in 2016.

Alonso, 59, generated fake vendor invoices and used a computer in Leavy's law firm to make checks to pay those invoices. She then made the checks into money orders which she deposited into her bank account. She made the transactions in the Wells Fargo inside the building where Leavy operates his firm.

She pleaded guilty to bank fraud in federal court and received a four-year prison sentence for the offense. The plea agreement states that she will be on supervised release for five years after her sentence. She is also ordered to repay the $1.5 million she stole from Leavy.

"As we dug more and more and more, it was staggering to me," Leavy said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. "I felt professionally raped."

Miguel Del Aguila, an attorney for Alonso, said that "she’s extremely repentant for what she did."

Leavy is best known for wearing an orange jersey and accessories to watch the Miami Marlins play. He has been seen traveling the country in his uniform to different games through the years. He is also famous for buying strangers tickets to games and asking that others do the same.

However, Leavy, who has season tickets to Marlins games since 1993, has been missing from the stands during the 2018 season. The Miami lawyer has reportedly said he's severed ties with the team because of the prices of tickets, according to ESPN. Leavy said the only way he would pay to see the team is when they play the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.