Tiffany executive steals millions -- on Monday, former vice president of Tiffany & Co, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, was sentenced with 12 months imprisonment after confessing that she had stolen jewelry from the luxury store valuing up to US$2.1 million.
Formerly one of Tiffany & Co's executives, Lederhaas-Okun confessed her crime in tears, telling the Manhattan federal judge that she deeply regretted stealing valuable merchandise from the store for the past several years of her employment.
"I can't express my remorse enough," Lederhaas-Okun told the judge.
The former vice president of product development, who lives in Darien, Connecticut, was arrested and pleaded guilty last July 26, just shy of a month after her arrest. The charge was one count of transporting property stolen in interstate commerce.
Prosecutors had attempted to raise Lederhaas-Okun's sentence to 46 months imprisonment for the theft, which Tiffany & Co representatives described as "sad and disturbing" during an official court filing for the case.
Manhattan District Judge Paul Gardephe called the request for a longer sentence excessive and did not agree to it. However, he also denied Lederhaas-Okun's lawyer who requested a six-month sentence instead of twelve and cited the "magnitude of the crime."
The former Tiffany executive was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by Judge Gardephe, on top of one year of probation right after her release. The district judge also ordered the former vice president to pay the fine of more than US$2.11 million to the government and pay the US$2.24 million in restitution requested by Tiffany & Co.
According to Lederhaas-Okun's lawyer, the former Tiffany exec first started stealing from the New York luxury store in 2005, taking one of the pendants from Tiffany & Co where she has been employed since 1991.
Since then, Lederhaas-Okun has made it a habit to take jewelry secretly from the store and sell it on the side, taking the earnings for herself, confirmed the prosecutors. The government representatives confirmed that the jewelry stolen included earrings, pendants and bracelets made of platinum, diamonds and gold.
Lederhaas-Okun had been able to steal undetected for several years due to her position as vice president, which gave her authority to take jewelry from Tiffany and write them off inventory.
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