INSTEAD OF THIS SHE’LL BE WEARING THESE
Tiffany exec gets year in jail Plundered $2 mil in jewelry
BREAKFAST AT Tiffany’s ... lunch at Sing Sing.
Former Tiffany & Co. executive Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Monday for stealing more than $2.1 million in jewelry from her employer in workplace capers that began in 2008.
In a presentencing letter, the defendant’s lawyer wrote that Lederhaas-Okun swiped at least 165 items, including diamond, platinum and gold bracelets, earrings and pendants, because she was depressed due to issues in her marriage and at work.
Lederhaas-Okun, of wealthy Darien, Conn., was arrested July 2, and pleaded guilty July 26. She is free on $250,000 bond.
“To be clear, Ingrid did not need the money . . . Ingrid spent more money on others than she ever did on herself. The family was well-off and could have afforded the same lifestyle without her theft,” defense lawyer Sabrina Shroff wrote.
“For reasons that can only be explained by a psychiatric illness, Ingrid took huge risks with her life and her freedom each time she stole. The risk did not pay off.”
In court papers, Lederhaas-Okun, 47, asked Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Gardephe to impose a six-month sentence, while prosecutors recommended a hitch ranging from 37 to 46 months.
The judge settled on a sentence that fell between the two requests. Gardephe also ordered the sticky-fingered former executive to forfeit $2.1 million in ill-gotten gains and pay $2.2 million in restitution.
“With today’s sentence, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun has learned the price she must pay for stealing millions of dollars worth of fine jewelry,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Lederhaas-Okun was allowed to check out jewelry from Tiffany for work-related reasons that included showing items to potential manufacturers for cost estimates.
She stole at least 165 pieces of bling with a retail value of more than $2.1 million, the feds said.
Rather than bring the jewelry back to the office, she reported the items damaged or missing. The high-class crook then off-loaded some of the jewelry to a Manhattan-based reseller, netting $1.3 million. Tiffany fired Lederhaas-Okun in Febru- ary, months before her arrest.
Her lawyer didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Last month, the thief’s husband requested that the feds re- turn some of the jewelry that investigators seized from his home. Robert Okun said he bought many of the items for himself, including 40 sets of cuff links.
He also said he had no knowledge of his wife’s crimes.
The issue of his property claim remains unresolved, said his lawyer Bernard Kleinman.
The couple will sell their house to help settle Lederhaas-Okun’s forfeiture
and restitution.