Former Washington state employee sentenced to prison for embezzling nearly $900,000

Tacoma - A 48-year-old Olympia resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 18 months in prison for wire fraud in connection with his scheme to steal nearly $900,000 from his former employer - the State of Washington - announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Matthew Randall Ping pleaded guilty in June 2025 to wire fraud and making and subscribing a false tax return. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said, "Your crime was very serious but was driven by severe addiction…. Gambling addiction can destroy the life of someone who is otherwise an upstanding citizen."

"This theft was not just the largest insider embezzlement from Washington State in the last 15 years, it also undermines trust in our state financial safeguards," said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. "Mr. Ping not only cheated state taxpayers, he cheated on his federal taxes as well by failing to pay the income taxes he owed on ill-gotten gain."

According to records filed in the case, Ping began working for the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) in 2009. By 2017 he had been promoted to the role of Management Analyst and served as the department's credit card custodian. Between 2019 and 2023, Ping used a sophisticated scheme to abuse his credit card access so he could embezzle at least $878,115 from the state agency.

The plea agreement, charging information, and sentencing memo detail how Ping hid the fraud from his employer. Ping opened accounts with payment processors and gave the accounts display names that indicated the accounts were associated with legitimate OAH business vendors. Between 2019 and 2021, Ping secretly charged more than $330,000 to OAH credit cards as purported payments to these vendors. In fact, the money went to accounts Ping controlled. In 2021, Ping set up an account via a different payment processor and continued the fraud, stealing approximately $530,000 in additional funds from OAH. Ping also used OAH credit cards to buy $17,359 in personal items from Verizon and Walmart.

Ping also circumvented state procedures designed to detect credit card fraud. For example, OAH required that Ping's co-workers review and approve Ping's credit card transactions, but Ping would provide false or incomplete lists of transactions during that review process. After the review, Ping would add in his fraudulent charges and upload and approve payment himself without the required oversight on his fraudulent transactions. He also took steps to manipulate the accounting data to make it more difficult to determine that he had violated protocol by uploading, reviewing, and approving his own transactions

In all Ping secretly executed 210 transactions with the phony vendors he created for a total loss to the state of $860,756. The improper charges on his state issued credit card total $17,359, bringing the total loss to the State of Washington to $878,115.

In asking for a 33-month prison sentence, Assistant United Staes Attorney Dane Westermeyer noted that much of the money Ping stole was gambled away at casinos. "He used this stolen taxpayer money to fuel his gambling habit, fund at least six trips to Las Vegas, pay off a luxury vehicle loan, and otherwise support his lifestyle. And, perhaps not surprisingly, he failed to report any of the income from his theft on his federal tax returns, which resulted in a tax loss of nearly $250,000," Westermeyer wrote in his sentencing memo.

Speaking to the court Matthew Ping said he tried to get help for his gambling addiction, but that resources for that addiction are very limited. Ping will be on three years of supervised release following his prison term. Judge Cartwright urged him to be active advocating for services and regulations that would benefit those struggling with a gambling addiction.

The embezzlement was first discovered by the Washington State Auditor's Office. Ping resigned his position in 2023 when the theft was discovered. For tax years 2020-2023, the resulting tax loss totals $240,247. Ping has agreed to pay full restitution to the state, to its insurer, and to the IRS for his tax obligation -- a total of $1,118,362.

The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) worked with the Auditors Office on the criminal investigation.

The case is being Prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dane A. Westermeyer.