3-year time-out for Toys exec

A Toys ‘R’ Us executive who embezzled nearly $2 million from the company was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison.

Daniel Chon, 29, who was the director of transportation at the company, used debit cards meant for delivery drivers’ food, gas and lodging costs — to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself.

At Chon’s sentencing in Brooklyn federal court, Assistant US Attorney Melody Wells asked the judge to go with the guideline sentence of 3 to 4 years, saying Chon ran up the company debit cards and withdrew cash 117 times.

“[Chon] engaged in a threeyear behavior that demonstrates shocking greed,” Wells said, adding that Chon enjoyed “a constant stream of parties, casinos, expensive hotels, yachts, champagne, caviar.”

Judge Roslynn Mauskopf said, “There is no dispute in my mind that Mr. Chon did this out of pure greed. He was living large — world travels, luxury hotels, extravagant meals. . . . He had all the tools he needed to loot the coffers of Toys ‘R’ Us, which he did to the tune of $1.9 million.”

Chon’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, argued his alcoholism and troubled childhood, including an abusive father, led to his actions. “He was obviously mentally ill,” Lichtman told the court. “He was spending the money on one stupid thing after another to get the love and adoration of his peers, to get the love he wasn’t getting when he was young.”

“I am sorry,” Chon said. “Toys ‘R’ Us trusted me and I violated that trust. . . . I will until the end of my life pay back every penny. . . . I take full responsibility of my deplorable conduct.

“I’ve been a drunk for the last 11 years of my life,” Chon told Mauskopf, adding that he has been receiving treatment from a psychologist.

Chon must pay nearly $2 million in restitution and forfeiture.