Ex-controller of car dealer stole millions to live high life
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Patricia K. Smith, a car dealership accountant, told people that the European and Caribbean vacations, the Super Bowl tickets, the jewelry -- heck, even the front row seats at the Mass with the pope -- were the fruits of a smart stock buy and some hustle as an online travel agent.
And, apparently, they bought it, allowing her to buy luxuries that a head of state would envy.
For six years, Ms. Smith, 57, of Cranberry used her position as controller at Baierl Acura in Pine to siphon off $10.2 million that she and her family and friends used to live the high life. That's the financial equivalent of the disappearance of 342 Acura TSX Sport Wagons.
Some 800 times, Ms. Smith shifted money from the dealership's operating funds to its personnel account, then to an out-of-state financial clearinghouse and finally to her personal accounts.
"She was able to keep this under wraps until early last year by inflating vehicle inventory and manipulating internal records and bank statements," said Lee Baierl, CEO of Baierl Automotive, in a written statement.
When a company executive told her in a July email that he'd found out about the embezzlement and indicated that he would turn her in, Ms. Smith gave herself up to the FBI. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud Tuesday and likely faces five or six years in prison,; forfeiture of four homes, 10 vehicles and jewelry; and repayment of the loss from her future earnings.
But what a run she had.
According to an account provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Kaufman before U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond, Ms. Smith ran up charges of $5.5 million on her American Express card, much of it for travel.
She paid for seven trips to Europe and four to Caribbean islands, blowing $1.8 million on private jet charters and $715,000 on commercial airfare.
Once abroad, she did not skimp. In 2007, she ran up charges of $43,000 at a hotel in Paris. In 2008, in Europe, she paid for $22,000 in limo rentals.
She also bought "experiences," Mr. Kaufman said, some of which she enjoyed herself. Others she gave away.
First Published January 11, 2012 12:00 am
