Former Biden State Dept. Staffer Pleads Guilty In Fraud Scheme

Levita Almuete Ferrer, also known as Levita Brezovic, is a 64-year-old former budget analyst who worked for the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Chief of Protocol — a division responsible for budgeting and administrative functions related to the State Department’s diplomatic operations.

In that role, she had signature authority over a State Department checking account, meaning she had the power to sign certain financial instruments — a level of trust that would later make it possible for her to commit a serious crime against the very institution she served.

The Fraud Scheme: What Happened

From March 2022 through April 2024, Ferrer exploited her access to official financial accounts to carry out a systematic embezzlement scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of more than $650,000.

Here’s how the scheme unfolded — step by step:

1. Signature Authority Abuse

Ferrer used her legal authority over a State Department checking account to issue 63 checks — 60 payable to herself and three payable to someone with whom she had a personal relationship. Each check was printed and signed using her official signature.

2. Concealment Through Accounting Software

To hide her wrongdoing, Ferrer used a shared QuickBooks accounting account maintained by the department. In QuickBooks, she would enter her name as the payee when generating checks. After printing them, she changed the listed payee to that of legitimate vendors — making it difficult for anyone casually browsing the accounts to spot that she was actually benefiting personally.

This method of concealment plays on the lack of robust real-time oversight in some internal accounting systems — a gap that criminals can exploit if checks and entries aren’t audited carefully.