Hewlett-Packard money funded lavish lifestyle
A former executive assistant to a Hewlett-Packard senior vice president has pleaded guilty to using company credit cards to fund an “extravagant” lifestyle, spending nearly $1 million on items including trips to Hawaii and Europe and purchases at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Holli Dawn Coulman, 43, is charged with wire fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison at sentencing, federal prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.
Coulman was hired by the information-technology company in 2000. She worked for the senior executive from 2008 to 2012.
According to federal court documents, she filed claims for business expenses that were actually personal expenses. The company had given her several American Express corporate credit cards to use for company expenses.
“Coulman, however, used the cards to support an extravagant and luxurious lifestyle,” prosecutors said.
The case was investigated by the FBI.
The fraudulent expenses included more than $100,000 at La Costa Resort & Spa; more than $43,000 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach and Casa Palmero at Pebble Beach; thousands of dollars in airfare; and thousands of dollars for purchases at the Apple Store and for high-end clothing.
She also admitted paying for more than $350,000 in expenses incurred by her brother’s painting business in Colorado, prosecutors said.
Coulman intercepted company emails about her expenditures before her boss saw them, and would submit false receipts and invoices, the statement said. The theft totaled an estimated $954,292, prosecutors said.
“This type of brazen corporate theft directly harms the shareholders of the company and the public at large due to increases in the cost of goods sold by companies,” U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said in the statement. “I commend the FBI for its work in uncovering this theft.”
Coulman pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 1 by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff.
