Sue Sachdeva is not super rich, but she went on the shopping spree to end all shopping sprees.
Sue bought an incredible 22,000 items worth tens of millions of dollars – everything from high-end women’s clothing to expensive cars to lavish vacations. She bought 34 fur coats and 461 pairs of shoes.
When her three-car garage began overflowing with all the stuff she bought, she rented THREE storage units. Inside were 65 racks of women’s clothing, many items with the $20,000 price tags still on them.
How could she afford it? Authorities say she embezzled a stunning amount – $31 million! – from the company for which she worked.
“I have been a prosecutor for 26 years, and I’ve never had a case of this magnitude,” assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Jacobs told The ENQUIRER. “The amount of money she took, and the number of items she purchased, is quite extraordinary.”
Sue was paid well – $173,000 a year as vice president of finance for Koss Corp., the makers of stereo headphones, in Milwaukee, Wis. Her husband, Ramesh, is a doctor who works as a pediatrician at a local hospital.
The two were a pillar of the local civic scene. They were often seen at glittering social events. She helped raise money for charities such as the Boys & Girls Clubs and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Sue drove an expensive Mercedes, and she and her husband lived in a million-dollar home. They employed cooks and nannies. Their children attended private schools.
They often jetted off to Hawaii, where she had a timeshare, and India.
On one trip, officials reportedly closed the famed Taj Mahal to the public so Sue could have a private tour.
She joined Koss in 1992 and eventually worked her way up to become the company’s vice president of finance.
She began siphoning off millions into her own bank accounts in 2004, say authorities.
“She was able to get away with it because she was one of the principal financial people at the company,” Jacobs told The ENQUIRER.
“She was in a position to make accounting entries in the books to conceal what she was doing.”
Authorities say she accumulated some 22,000 items over a five-year span. That’s more than 80 items a week, most costing thousands of dollars.
Sue was finally caught when American Express became suspicious of why she was using her credit card for personal items and then billing them to Koss.
They notified Koss. The company called in the FBI, and she was arrested on Dec. 21.
“She admitted what she’d done. She said she acted alone, and no one else was involved,” said Jacobs. Her husband was not charged.
Sue, who is free on bail, has pleaded not guilty. She faces 120 years in jail on six counts of wire fraud.
