Two employees of ventriloquist Terry Fator are accused by Las Vegas police of stealing close to $1 million from the Strip headliner. Fator rose to fame with his 2007 victory on Season 2 of NBC-TV’s “America’s Got Talent.” He performed at the Mirage from 2009 to 2020, and switched to New York-New York in 2021.
Who’s the dummy now? Terry Fator had nearly $1 million stolen from him by trusted employees. That’s the same amount he won on “America’s Got Talent” in 2007. (Image: Instagram/Terry Fator)
Vincent Souza, the former treasurer for Fator’s company, Puppet Boy Entertainment, faces four counts of theft above $3,500, according to records obtained by KLAS-TV from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Officers arrested Souza on a warrant last week, the documents note. He was granted a walk-through initial appearance and released without having to post bail.
Souza stands accused of embezzling the money via business credit cards and unauthorized salary increases — from $150K in 2015 to $200K in 2017.
A second former employee, a payroll supervisor whose name is redacted in the documents, saw her salary balloon from $65K in 2015 to $140K in 2017. Whether she faces charges is unknown.
Fator first notified police of the theft in October 2021, two months after suing his accounting firm. That case was settled through arbitration, KLAS reported.
Former Case Dropped
Fator previously filed a similar complaint with the FBI — a fact that was not previously reported by the press. For unknown reasons, federal agents, along with the Nevada Attorney General’s office, elected not to prosecute that case, KLAS reported.
In 2020, according to police, Souza fired Fator’s entire office staff, including himself, over concerns that the company “was no longer financially solvent.” That same year, Souza used the company credit card for a vacation to Hawaii, which was unauthorized, along with trips to Europe and Disneyland.
In 2022, Souza placed a security deposit on a residence in Buena Vista, Fla. using Disney Vacation Points that were fraudulently purchased using his company credit card, according to police. He also used it for a down payment on a new Telsa and paid “tens of thousands” for season tickets to the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Mr. Souza is presumed innocent and I believe will remain as such,” Souza’s attorney, Jack Buchanan, said in a statement to KLAS. “Our investigation is just beginning into allegations that span multiple years, and because of this, we anticipate once all legal measures and an accounting is exhausted, Mr. Souza will be vindicated.”
Souza faces a preliminary hearing on Jan. 16.
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