Former Business Manager Charged With Defrauding $2M From Oneworld Alliance
Randy Wang is alleged to have purchased more than $2 million in electronics on the company card, while a civil suit in state Civil Court alleges he may have tricked the company into wiring him $600,000 owed to an outside vendor.
December 14, 2017 at 06:30 PM
3 minute read
A onetime interim chief financial officer for the global airline alliance oneworld was arrested and charged with wire fraud Thursday for allegedly incurring more than $2.2 million in unauthorized company credit card charges that he then attempted to hide, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.
Randy Wang served as a oneworld business manager before becoming the group's interim CFO. Between January 2016 to October 2017, federal authorities allege Wang made hundreds of purchases online and in physical stores that were entirely unrelated to his duties. He's charged with a single count of wire fraud.
“As alleged, Randy Wang took advantage of his position at a major New York-based company to charge millions of dollars' worth of nonbusiness-related purchases on the company's credit card,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement. “Wang allegedly tried to take his employer for a ride, but instead he may be facing a trip to prison.”
According to prosecutors, those purchases included 443 laptops, 241 mobile devices, 24 tablets, as well as numerous other electronic devices. Federal authorities allege that Wang attempted to avoid detection by making changes to the company's accounting records.
The federal charges came after a civil suit was brought by oneworld against Wang in New York County Supreme Court on Nov. 8—the day after he was terminated from the company.
According to the complaint, Wang's actions went well beyond simply using the company card to buy electronic equipment. In one instance, oneworld alleges that it believes Wang created a website used to pose as a legitimate vendor the group does regular business with. In an email purporting to be from one of the vendor's partners, but which oneworld claims it confirmed did not actually come from said partner, a person demanded payment for an outstanding invoice of $600,000.
The invoice was paid to a bank in Florida that the vendor later confirmed was not a bank used by the company, and that the wire instructions were not sent by anyone at the vendor. Oneworld suggests Wang was actually the person behind the email.
“To date, the converted funds have not been returned by defendant to plaintiff,” the complaint stated.
A spokesperson for oneworld could not be reached.
In a response from Wang's counsel filed earlier this month, Frederic Jennings of Tor Ekeland Law, denied the allegations. Jennings confirmed he was serving as counsel to Wang in the federal suit, but declined to comment on the charges.
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