A woman who once worked as an executive at jeweler Tiffany & Co. was arrested Tuesday in connection with the theft of more than $1 million worth of jewelry from her former employer, authorities said.
Tiffany, the fabled New York luxury jewelry store, confirmed it was the company cited in the federal criminal complaint filed against Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, its former vice president of product development.
Lederhaas-Okun, 46, was taken into custody at her home in Darien, Conn., accused of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement that accompanied the criminal complaint.
As an executive in product development, Lederhaas-Okun was allowed to take jewelry to potential manufacturers to determine the cost of production, it said.
Instead of returning the items to the store, Lederhaas-Okun would report the jewelry missing or damaged, the complaint said. It said the items included bracelets, earrings and pendants made of diamonds, platinum and gold.
Lederhaas-Okun sold them for some $1.3 million to a leading international buyer and reseller, falsely claiming they were her own, it said.
