Former WA state worker sentenced for nearly $900,000 embezzlement

Former WA state worker sentenced for nearly $900,000 embezzlement

Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard

September 12, 2025 / 1:55 pm

A former Washington state worker who admitted to embezzling nearly $900,000 in taxpayer funding to finance his gambling addiction was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison.

Matthew Ping, an ex-employee at the Office of Administrative Hearings, will also need to pay $1.1 million in restitution for the money he stole and unpaid taxes on it.

Before the fraud case, Ping filed for personal bankruptcy four times, in 1999, 2005, 2012 and 2018, court records show. In the 2018 bankruptcy, the year before his embezzlement began, Ping reported $190,000 in debt.

A state audit found the office’s internal controls to prevent the type of fr