WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A man who worked as an accountant at a business where two people were killed this week in Boynton Beach was sentenced Thursday on multiple charges.
Sadman Dawla, who previously pleaded guilty to four counts of grand theft and two counts of money laundering in July, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was credited with one year and four months served.
WATCH BELOW: Accountant gets 18 years in theft case linked to double murder
Investigators said he stole $5.5 million from All American Farms, a tobacco importing business, located in Boynton Beach.
Sadman Dawla is the brother of Nesar Dawla, 39, of West Palm Beach, who police said fatally shot the company's owners, brothers Charles and Richard Geragi of Delray Beach, inside a conference room.
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Double murder tied to $5.5M fraud at local company
According to arrest papers, Nesar Dawla received $46,000 worth of checks written from All American Farms from his brother, Sadman.
"All American Farms and Mrs. Geragi withdraw their prior support for leniency and reduced sentence," attorney Irwin Gilbert told the court via Zoom. "We would report to the court that there has been no further restitution, little likelihood of it."
Gilbert said the Geragi family had been "strung along," believing Sadman Dawla would return some of the millions he admitted stealing.
Police said Nesar Dawla was meeting with the Geragi brothers on Monday specifically to discuss paying back some of the stolen money when the fatal shooting occurred.
At his sentencing hearing, Sadman Dawla offered an apology to the court.
WATCH BELOW: Business owners killed at Boynton Beach business
"I sincerely apologize for the mistake that I made," Dawla said.
Prosecutors had offered him a plea deal of 15 years in prison, but Judge Daliah Weiss imposed a harsher sentence.
"Eighteen years in the Department of Corrections," Weiss said. "The sentence will be followed by 10 years' probation. Restitution is ordered."
The judge set restitution at $4.6 million.
Sadman Dawla admitted to writing unauthorized company checks totaling more than $5.5 million. He claimed he had a gambling problem and was spending the money at a local casino.
During Thursday's sentencing hearing, there was no mention of the shooting deaths of the Geragi brothers or Nesar Dawla's role in the killings.
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