Kristen Martin, Mail Fraud and Tax Evasion, Colorado 2020

A Denver woman has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and federal tax evasion after using company money to purchase $846,441 in goods that were then sold on Ebay, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado.

Kristen Martin, 38, was an executive assistant with her employer from January 2013 through December 2016. As part of her duties, Martin was authorized to use a company account at Staples to purchase supplies that were needed by her employer. However, Martin used the company's accounts to order unauthorized items which she kept for herself and resold online through Ebay and other means.

According to the Information, Martin fraudulently ordered, and billed to her company, 4,790 scientific calculators, 250 Ipads/tablet computers, 440 Apple TVs, 178 Kindles, 159 headsets, and 5 cameras, causing the company a loss of $846,441.11. Martin disputes this amount but agrees that she caused a loss of more than $550,000 to her employer through her scheme. Martin resold these fraudulently obtained goods and enriched herself from the sales to the tune of $571,725.61.

When senior employees of the company questioned Martin about some of these irregular purchases, she lied and stated that the purchases were made for a company project in a different division of the company.

In addition to lying to and stealing from the company, Martin also willfully hid this fraudulently earned income from the IRS by filing false federal income tax returns for the years 2013 through 2016, in which she made false statements and failed to report the hundreds of thousands of dollars that she made from her scheme.

As a result of her actions, Martin has agreed to pay restitution in an amount up to $872,337.68 to her employer and in the amount of $161,864 to the IRS.

Martin will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello on June 15, 2020. She was first charged by Information on January 14, 2020.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/denver-woman-pleads-guilty-mail-fraud-and-tax-evasion-after-using-company-money-purchase