Former BigLaw office manager is accused of using firm's credit card for spending spree of over $400K
Image from Shutterstock.com.
Federal prosecutors allege that a former Morrison & Foerster office operations manager spent more than $400,000 on the firm’s credit card to make personal purchases and transfer money to his PayPal account.
The former employee, Andrew Robertson, faces a preliminary hearing at the end of the month in Washington, D.C., on a federal mail fraud charge, according to court documents and a story by the National Law Journal. Robertson worked in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia offices.
Robertson is accused of spending money on personal purchases that included designer clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, groceries, his Verizon bill and storage units for his personal items.
Specific items allegedly purchased included a 60-inch LED TV; a sleeper bed; Air Jordan, Prada and Gucci sneakers; Gucci ankle boots; a prom king costume; a Roomba vacuum; a goose down parka with coyote fur; Bath & Body works candles; a MacBook Air computer; a Cartier watch; and a pinkie ring.
Robertson allegedly tried to cover up his wrongdoing by creating and submitting fraudulent invoices to make it appear that the purchases were legitimate. Among the classifications he used were office supplies and catering.
The firm hired Robertson in February 2017 and fired him in November 2018 after an internal audit detected the alleged fraud. His assistant federal public defender did not comment when contacted by Law.com.
Morrison & Foerster told Law.com that Robertson’s alleged actions did not affect any firm clients, and the law firm is fully cooperating with law enforcement on the matter.
