Former Clyde's Exec Pleads Guilty to Embezzling More Than $600,000

The former comptroller of the Clyde's Restaurant Group pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of mail fraud for embezzling nearly $648,000 from the company.

Nancy Preston, 55, of Vienna, VA, worked for the Clyde's Restaurant Group from 1982 to 2011.

The company’s restaurants include Clyde’s locations in Chevy Chase and Georgetown, as well as Clyde’s Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville.

In the guilty plea, Preston admitted to embezzling $647,547 from the company between 2001 and 2011, according to an FBI news release. Preston diverted money she oversaw in corporate accounts to pay her personal credit card bill, used Clyde’s corporate credit cards to pay for unauthorized personal expenses and used “a Clyde’s vendor (paid by Clyde’s funds) to obtain goods for her personal use,” the release said.

Preston faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, in addition to other fines and penalties. She has already agreed to sign over equity-based incentive stock awards and/or options to Clyde’s and additional monetary forfeitures, which together total the amount she embezzled, the release said.