IRS Employee Charged with Embezzlement in Amazon Spree

An Internal Revenue Service employee has been charged with embezzling government funds for using a government-issued purchase card to go on a shopping spree at Amazon.com.

Yetunde Oseni, a 37-year-old secretary who has worked for the IRS since 2000 in Maryland, allegedly used an IRS-issued Citibank MasterCard to buy items such as a chocolate fondue fountain, Harlequin romance novels, Bollywood movie videos, a candy and toy piñata, Omaha Steaks, trench coats, a set of dinnerware, children’s pop-up books, Pampers, mango body wash, riding boots and skinny jeans, according to a criminal complaint posted on The Smoking Gun.

The purchase card was supposed to be used for office expenses. The unauthorized purchases she made between June 2009 and March 2013 allegedly amounted to $8,515 in government losses.

A routine audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration last December uncovered 38 unauthorized purchases and transactions totaling $2,655. Each time, according to the complaint, Oseni submitted what appeared to be a legitimate invoice for a legitimate office purchase on behalf of the IRS.

TIGTA special agent Tracey V. Giannakoulias took a closer look at the invoices and compared them to the records she obtained from Amazon and noticed the discrepancies. She theorized that Oseni may have used her IRS-issued computer or a home computer to create fake receipts and invoices for the items.

Oseni is free on bond, but faces up to 10 years in prison. A hearing is scheduled for next month.

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