Nadia Minetto bought $6 million in iPhones and iPads, charging them to her company credit card. They didn’t notice until five years later (via National Post).
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Secret Stash
Over two and half years Ms. Minetto sold 5,321 iPads and 4,942 iPhones for cash. The man she sold them to—Gabriel Fung—resold them, either through his electronics store, companies in Hong Kong, or wholesalers.
Ms. Minetto was an accounting manager for Wescom Solutions Inc., based in Mississauga, Ontario. Part of her job was to approve purchases made to the company’s American Express card for business purposes, including her own.
In 2014 Wescom hired a consultant, Kristine Pacy, as the company considered being publicly traded. She noticed something unusual in business expenses. By scouring old records Ms. Pacy noticed that starting in May 2009, a year after Ms. Minetto was hired, the woman began spending money on “unusual items.”
At first it was for personal goods and services. But in 2011 Apple products started to appear in the records. Over the next five years, $6,831,834 was found to be misappropriated. Wescom didn’t press criminal charges at first. When confronted, Ms. Minetto didn’t deny what she did.
She reached a “gentle settlement” with the company where she gave a list of her personal assets and expenses, handed over certain expensive vehicles, but she was able to keep her house. But after the company found out she gave away a $10,000 cash gift to a family friend, and bought expensive purchases, Wescom changed its tune.
Ultimately, a judge awarded Wescom a claim for over $5 million against Mr. Fung and a business partner, and Mr. Fung was awarded a cross claim for the same amount against Ms. Minetto. It’s not known how much of the $6 million dollar loss was recovered.