Employee misappropriates $350,000 from through fake invoices, payroll

A woman who misappropriated nearly $350,000 from her employer has agreed to repay them after a resolution between both parties.

Angela Freiden has admitted that she caused a sum of $299,021.62 to be paid into her own bank account after disguising them as false invoices that were supposedly paid to suppliers.

She also confessed to embezzling another $45,092.72 through unauthorised payroll payments that she made to herself despite not being entitled to them.

According to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), Freidan's actions have caused "flow-on" losses for her former employer, Columba Ascot and Limited. This includes the organisation's tax-related losses and significant costs in identifying the extent of her conduct and taking steps in addressing those matters.

Resolution

The ERA said Freiden and her employer, Columba at Ascot Limited, have agreed that general damages are justified for her conduct of:

• Misappropriation by generating multiple false supplier invoices over a sustained period of time
• Misappropriation by way of multiple unauthorised payroll payments over a sustained period of time
• Significant and serious breaches of good faith towards her former employer that has caused flow-on losses

Freiden also agreed to repay all the funds that she misappropriated, according to the ERA.

She is also liable to pay an additional $30,000 in general damages for "serious and sustained breaches of trust, good faith, and her obligations under her employment agreement.

According to the ERA, the proceedings are now withdrawn with no order as to costs.

"These terms, by consent and by this determination, become the orders of the Authority in this matter," the ERA said.