Living a lavish lifestyle isn’t a crime once it’s been funded with your own hard-earned money made from legal businesses owned but it becomes a crime punishable by the law once it’s funded with illegalities.
The Daily Mail reports that a former Yale School of Medicine Administrator named Jamie Petrone-Codrington has admitted to stealing $40 million in computers and electronics from the school to fund her lavish lifestyle that included supercars, multiple properties, and European vacations.
Jamie Petrone-Codrington, 42, from Lithia Springs, Georgia, on Monday pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and tax charges related to her years-long scheme. She could face up to 23 years in prison when she is sentenced for her crimes on June 29, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut said in a statement.
According to court documents and statements, beginning in 2008, Petrone-Codrington worked at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine. She most recently served as the director of finance and administration.
As part of her job, Petrone-Codrington was authorized to make purchases for her department below $10,000. Beginning in 2013, Petrone-Codrington ordered, or had her staffers order, millions of dollars in of electronics, including Microsoft Surface Pro tablets and iPads, from Yale vendors using the school’s funds and arranged to ship the goods to an out-of-state business in exchange for money, which she then pocketed, according to documents.
As part of the scheme, Petrone-Codrington falsely represented on Yale internal forms and in emails that the equipment was for Yale Med needs, such as medical studies. To cover up her crimes, Petrone-Codrington broke up the fraudulent purchases into orders below the $10,000 threshold that would require additional approval.
The out-of-state business, which resold the electronic equipment to customers, paid Petrone-Codrington by wiring funds into an account for Maziv Entertainment, a photography and video production company co-owned by her husband, in which she is listed as a principal. ‘In total, Petrone caused a loss of approximately $40,504,200 to Yale,’ the US Attorney’s Office stated. ‘Petrone used the proceeds of the sales of the stolen equipment for various personal expenses, including expensive cars, real estate and travel.’
She was finally caught after 8 years when a Yale audit finally caught on to what she was doing and contacted the FBI.
Flip to the next page for photos of Jamie Petrone-Codrington’s lavish lifestyle.
