UK Woman Uses Company Credit Card To Fund Lavish Lifestyle, Jailed

A 31-year-old woman who defrauded her employer of almost 200,000 pounds (approximately Rs 2.27 Crore) to buy holidays and luxury gifts has been jailed for five years and 10 months, the BBC reported. Anita Mirmohammadi, from North London, was caught after she started working at a Brentwood-based business as a manager in their finance team in 2018, entitling her to access to a business credit card. She used the company card and submitted fraudulent invoices to extract money from the firm. She was able to fund luxury purchases at Harrods, Selfridges and Mercedes Benz, as well as holidays to Mexico, Turkey and Dubai.

According to the BBC, Ms Mirmohammadi was arrested at London Gatwick Airport after returning from Dubai in May 2022 – a trip paid for by cash taken from her employer in Brentwood. The 31-year-old, of no fixed address, was found guilty of fraud by false representation and sentenced on Friday. 

In a statement, Essex police said that Ms Mirmohammadi’s company credit was used to fund regular spending on Apple, Amazon, eBay, Uber and Zara, as well as Thames Water and Harley Street Dental. In total, she siphoned 189,675 pounds from her company via its credit card and fraudulent invoices between 2018 and 2022, cops said. 

Her offending was uncovered when “a pattern of unexplained transactions” was discovered in the firm’s accounts, Essex Police said.

During sentencing, Judge Shane Collery said, “She (Ms Mirmohammadi) was not dependent on stealing to survive and her claim that she does care is hard to accept as she gave no thought to the consequences at all,” as per SkyNews.

“She is a selfish, self-obsessed woman who repeated regular dishonesty, which was systemic and sustained and she must have seen what she was doing,” the judge added. 

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Separately, Detective Constable Karen Venables said, “This sentence shows the severity of Mirmohmmadi’s offending. This was a calculated, ongoing fraud that would have continued had she not been caught.” 

“It was clear from the deception we found in these accounts that Mirmohammadi knew what she was doing was wrong and was trying to cover her tracks,” the detective added. 

Officials are now working to identify the sum of Ms Mirmohammadi’s offences so they can recover the money via the Proceeds of Crime Act. A confiscation hearing is scheduled for November at Basildon Crown Court.