Travel Agent sent to prison for billing American Express $35 Million in fictitious travel
A purple-haired travel agent was sent sobbing to prison yesterday for admittedly billing American Express for $35 million in fictitious travel -- but not before blaming her thefts on an undiagnosed sleeping disorder.
"This was a monumental lapse of judgment on my part," Victoria Wofford, 54, said of bilking AmEx through her corporate travel company, Tri-Pen Management Corp.
"I'm not even sure what I was thinking at the time," she added. "It may have had something to do with the undiagnosed sleep apnea that I apparently suffered from for many, many years."
Wofford will serve three to six years under her sentencing in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Her lawyer, Thomas Puccio, said she plowed most of the $17.5 million she actually pocketed back into her business for software development. She had hoped to sell the software for enough money to repay AmEx before getting caught.
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