US: 'Shopoholic' Indian orchestrates $20mn fraud

Houston, Jan 5: An Indian-American executive was fired from her job after she allegedly misappropriated 20 million dollars from the company fund to satisfy the 'shopaholic' in her.

Sujata Sachdeva, who was working as the vice president of finance with a US-based electronic goods firm known as Koss Corporation, was arrested by the FBI just a few months ago for embezzling 4.5 million dollars.

She was fired on Christmas eve after a preliminary audit by Koss determined the fraud exceeded 20 million dollars since 2006.

Sachdeva, who has been working with Koss since 1992, says she is a compulsive shopper.

A person with this kind of behaviour is popularly known as a 'shopaholic'. The clinical term to explain this condition is 'oniomania'.

Sachdeva has admitted to falsifying documents and using company funds to pay for personal items.

Besides firing Sachdeva, the company has also placed two members of company's accounting staff, who worked under the Indian-American, on unpaid administrative leave.

Koss said that it found several credit card statements in Sachdeva's office along with a pile of women's luxury clothing with price tags still attached.

OneIndia News