SF tech firm’s VP used payroll powers to steal $2.7M, feds allege

The former vice president of finance and administration at San Francisco tech company RepairPal embezzled more than $2.7 million from the firm, prosecutors say — a brazen scheme that allegedly took place over eight years as he rose through the ranks of the company.

Aubrey Shelton, who joined the on-demand car repair platform in June 2013, now faces charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion for the alleged embezzlement. On Aug. 15, a federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down the indictment, which says Shelton, if convicted, would pay at least $2.7 million and see prison time.

RepairPal was not specifically named in the indictment or the news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, but the indictment describes the company as “a website that provides customers with automobile repair information and related services, such as providing cost estimates and connecting customers to service shops.”

Shelton joined RepairPal as a senior accountant and was promoted within a year to financial controller and then, in 2016, to vice president of finance. The indictment says he was discharged in May 2022, but Shelton’s publicly accessible LinkedIn says he worked at RepairPal until May 2023. He is not listed on RepairPal’s website as a member of the executive team; he was featured on the website in November 2021, according to the Wayback Machine.

Prosecutors accuse Shelton of carrying out a litany of financial crimes and embezzlement techniques from November 2013 to December 2021, when the firm stopped using the payroll processor ADP. Just months after starting at RepairPal, Shelton allegedly increased his pay from $3,041 to $6,250 per paycheck using his login to the firm’s ADP account.

Then, prosecutors allege, he switched to giving himself tax-free $5,000 “mileage reimbursement” payments twice a month and then tacked on some tax-free “executive loan” payments as well. He allegedly made $1.5 million from the fake executive loans and then almost $1 million from fake “misc reimbursement” payments, all while submitting false income tax returns and falsifying company records for the firm’s auditor.

The alleged scheme was investigated, the news release says, by the IRS’ Criminal Investigation agency.

RepairPal, Shelton and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to SFGATE’s requests for comment.

Hear of anything happening at a Bay Area tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.