CHICAGO — A former clerk for the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) retirement plan has been sentenced to a year in federal prison after fraudulently obtaining more than $356,000 in plan funds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois.

United States District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly imposed a year-and-a-day sentence Tuesday on Ayanna Nesbitt, a 51-year-old woman from Chicago. Nesbitt pleaded guilty earlier this year to a wire fraud charge, which led to her sentencing earlier this week.

Government officials said Nesbitt created and obtained approval for approximately 43 fraudulent requests from the CTA’s retirement plan to issue various benefits payments and refunds of pension contributions, which upon approval, were sent to financial accounts controlled by Nesbitt, or paid to people who then transferred the money to her.

From 2019 to 2021, government officials said Nesbitt defrauded the CTA’s retirement plan of approximately $356,934.

“[The] defendant was a public employee who abused her position to benefit herself and those close to her,” argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher K. Veatch in the government’s sentencing memorandum.