She stole $18M from her boss over a decade — then pleaded guilty
For a decade, the person paying her boss's credit card bill was also emptying his accounts.
Lizbeth Guadalupe Sherman of El Dorado Hills pleaded guilty this week to stealing nearly $18 million from a Bay Area venture capitalist, federal prosecutors in California's Eastern District said. She started as his executive assistant in September 2015. Access to his bank account and the job of settling his credit card became the mechanism.
Prosecutors say the money funded handbags, Rolex watches, vacations, private jet travel, vehicles and improvements to a $2 million house in El Dorado Hills. Sherman then resold designer purchases online. On one platform alone she took in more than $450,000 in nine months.
When agents searched the house in December, they found about 1,500 luxury items, most still tagged and in original packaging. One closet held Louis Vuitton bags and Christian Louboutin shoes. More handbags, Rolexes and expensive wine were stacked through the property.
Sherman is 47. Sentencing is set for March 2027. The maximum exposure on the charge is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the plea, she owes roughly $18 million in restitution to her former employer.
The story is less about taste than about controls. A single assistant with bill-pay rights and no meaningful second signature can run a private wealth office into a personal store for years before anyone looks at the statements.
*Image: Luxury goods on display. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty Images via SFGate.*
Source: SFGate
