Former Tiffany exec accused of stealing $1.3 million in jewelry
Federal prosecutors are accusing a former Tiffany & Co. vice president of swiping and selling $1.3 million in jewelry over a two-year span, charging her with one count each of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, worked for the Manhattan company as a vice president of design and product development, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Her position at the company, which a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday called “one of the world’s premier high-end jewelers,” required her to work with manufacturing partners on production costs and requirements for the upscale bijoux.
But from January 2011 through February 2013, Lederhaas-Okun checked out 165 pieces, including diamond bracelets and platinum and gold earrings, according to a statement from the office of Manhattan U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara.
She then sold the trinkets to an unnamed New York jewelry reseller, according to the complaint, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court and jointly announced with the New York office of the FBI.
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The jewelry reseller, according to the complaint, alternately paid Lederhaas-Okun, her husband or a friend working on her behalf.
Lederhaas-Okun was terminated from her job on Feb. 13 “as part of an overall downsizing” at Tiffany, according to the complaint. She was arrested Tuesday morning at her home in Darien, Conn., and will be presented in court later in the day.
The wire-fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the interstate transportation charge involves a 10-year maximum penalty.
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