By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A corporate travel manager admitted to scamming American Express out of more than $35 million and using the illegal profits to buy an apartment, develop software and invest in a California sandwich chain.
Gramercy resident Victoria Wofford, 53, pleaded guilty Wednesday to grand larceny for charging AmEx millions of dollars in fictitious travel expenses using the old travel accounts of a former client from November 2006 to February 2010.
Wofford, who lives at 131 Fifth Avenue, is the president of New York-based Tri-Pen Management Corporation, which handles corporate travel operations for its clients.
She used the profits from the made-up bookings to buy a $475,000 apartment in St. Petersburg, Fla. and invested $2.4 million in Submarina restaurants, a California sandwich chain.
Wofford said she actually only profited about $17 million from the scam. The remainder of American Express' $35 million in losses stemmed from fees incurred on the account, prosecutors said.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office investigated the case on behalf of the unidentified corporate client whose accounts Wofford used. She turned herself in at the time the scheme was uncovered.
Wofford faces from one to 25 years in prison for the four-year theft, but her sentence will be contingent on how much money she can reimburse American Express.
