VICTORIA A. WOFFORD, pleaded guilty to the top charge against her, Grand Larceny in the First Degree
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced on 05/12/2010, the arrest and guilty plea of a woman who perpetrated a fraudulent travel account scheme to steal more than $35 million. VICTORIA A. WOFFORD, 53, the founder, president and chief financial officer of Tri-Pen Management Corporation, pleaded guilty to the top charge against her, Grand Larceny in the First Degree, for making fraudulent charges on two defunct American Express business travel accounts. WOFFORD used the funds to develop software, purchase an apartment and invest in a restaurant chain.
“Corporate fraud victimizes an honest company by decreasing its bottom line, hurting its reputation and diminishing morale. Losses of any amount can have a ripple effect on the salaries and benefits of employees and those who do business with the company,” District Attorney Vance said. “This defendant committed multimillion-dollar fraud in a systematic fashion over a number of years. This Office remains committed to bringing perpetrators of large-scale economic crime to justice.”
According to documents filed in court, WOFFORD exercised full control over the finances of Tri-Pen Management Corporation, a privately-owned travel management company with offices in New York, Maryland, and Texas. In November 2006, WOFFORD began making fraudulent travel charges on two defunct business travel accounts of a Tri-Pen Management client. WOFFORD channeled the money exacted from the travel charges to a division of her company. By February 2010, WOFFORD had charged more than $35 million on the business travel accounts.
WOFFORD allocated the majority of the stolen funds to the development of Tri-Pen TravelMaster Technologies LLC, a software company that she founded to enhance Tri-Pen Management’s business. She also used the funds to buy a $475,000 apartment in St. Petersburg, Florida, in her husband’s name and also provided him with $2.4 million to invest in a restaurant chain in California.
District Attorney Vance thanked Major Economic Crimes Bureau Principal Deputy Chief Gary Fishman, who handled the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorneys Hillary Rosenberg and Tanya Apparicio, and Senior Investigator Patrick McKenna. Trial Preparation Assistant Mark Gaioni and former Trial Preparation Assistant Grant Marcks also assisted.
Defendant Information:
VICTORIA A. WOFFORD, 6/28/1956
131 5th Avenue
New York, NY
Charges:
Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony, one count
“Corporate fraud victimizes an honest company by decreasing its bottom line, hurting its reputation and diminishing morale. Losses of any amount can have a ripple effect on the salaries and benefits of employees and those who do business with the company,” District Attorney Vance said. “This defendant committed multimillion-dollar fraud in a systematic fashion over a number of years. This Office remains committed to bringing perpetrators of large-scale economic crime to justice.”
According to documents filed in court, WOFFORD exercised full control over the finances of Tri-Pen Management Corporation, a privately-owned travel management company with offices in New York, Maryland, and Texas. In November 2006, WOFFORD began making fraudulent travel charges on two defunct business travel accounts of a Tri-Pen Management client. WOFFORD channeled the money exacted from the travel charges to a division of her company. By February 2010, WOFFORD had charged more than $35 million on the business travel accounts.
WOFFORD allocated the majority of the stolen funds to the development of Tri-Pen TravelMaster Technologies LLC, a software company that she founded to enhance Tri-Pen Management’s business. She also used the funds to buy a $475,000 apartment in St. Petersburg, Florida, in her husband’s name and also provided him with $2.4 million to invest in a restaurant chain in California.
District Attorney Vance thanked Major Economic Crimes Bureau Principal Deputy Chief Gary Fishman, who handled the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorneys Hillary Rosenberg and Tanya Apparicio, and Senior Investigator Patrick McKenna. Trial Preparation Assistant Mark Gaioni and former Trial Preparation Assistant Grant Marcks also assisted.
Defendant Information:
VICTORIA A. WOFFORD, 6/28/1956
131 5th Avenue
New York, NY
Charges:
Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony, one count
As a former employee of Mrs. Wofford who is still due wages after leaving the company - I am glad that her bad business practices did not go unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteLW
How could she be so greedy. How could she risk our jobs. The employees do not make millions of dollars, and travel is a volatile industry. I hope she understands that she hurt so many people by being so greedy and dishonest.
ReplyDeleteWork to pay back ! Please oneway ticket to jail. PLEASE
ReplyDeleteIf she used stolen funds to create Travelmaster, the business should be taken away & liquidated to pay back what was stolen. In addition, she could not have done this by herself, especially booking the trips. Those who were drinking the Koolaid in White Plains & Irving know who they are. You will get yours.
ReplyDeleteBurn baby, burn!
ReplyDeleteThe District Attorney should interview all the people she hurt before sentencing. If you hurt people you should pay.
ReplyDeleteI hope someone shows these comments to Victoria Wofford and sees that she hurt people. We deserve something in return for the stress we face every day for now having to wonder what will happen to our jobs!
ReplyDeleteThose who are posting here that work in the offices, whether in White Plains,. Irving, Gaithersburg or at home, know that she could not have done it alone. Think really hard about who works closely with her....hmmmmmmm. Those persons might be right there with you.
ReplyDeleteDear Victoria Wofford,
ReplyDeleteI want my year's worth of wasted time and effort back! I was tricked into working for a company (TravelMaster) that was fueled by your irresponsible delusions and stolen money. Based on the "management" you decided to hire I have my doubts on whether you actually wanted the company to succeed or not. Especially since part of that management was sneaking their grubby little hands into your piggy bank full of stolen money and you didn't seem to notice or care. You should have spent less time writing your novel and instead gone to school to learn the difference between a good business and a bad one.
Oh yeah, thanks for not paying us our final paychecks and denying us our vacation time. That was awfully special of you too!
Sincerely,
One of your MANY former employees that have been hurt by your deeds.
(and yes, I know I'm not actually writing something VW will read; but it sure makes me feel good to rant about it!)
As yet another of the many that were almost destroyed by Victoria and her management cohorts, I can't believe that she has been the only one charged with anything. The IRS needs to get into the books of BOTH companies, and the DA and IRS need to investigate her husband as well. She should not be able to talk her way out of a strong jail sentence. She is not even remorseful now. Both companies were slave labor in modern times.
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know when the trial date is?
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't someone in the DA's office paying attention to what this woman is STILL doing!!! She has illegally terminated employees from both companies - no notice, just forced them all (under duress)to go as consultants (doing the SAME jobs)violating the IRS guidelines re: independent contractors, no termination papers, no COBRA data provided,just wiped out medical coverage. She did all this to get out of paying anymore taxes - TAX FRAUD!!! I thought she was not supposed to be involved with the companies anymore. How does she get away with all this???
ReplyDeleteAs someone who knows Mrs. Wofford well, I can ascertain that she is just as rotten an individual in her day to day life. It is absolutely impossible that neither her husband nor her second in command knew about her thieving ways.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to all of her employees that have been hurt by her theft.
have there been any trial updates? Is she going to jail? Did she get off? What's happening?
ReplyDeleteI too used to work for the American Express office that Tri-Pen outsourced too. I can tell you that the travel agencies management were incompetent as well as ruthless. I knew there was a problem with the tremendous turnover of personnel. And when the manger quit american express to work for Wofford, the environment became full of turmoil. Investigators should look into these people who managed that travel agency.
ReplyDeleteI hope they put her in with Madoff.
Oh yeah, by the way, Wofford is a practicing witch. My supervisor, Yvonne, told me that her along with 2 of her partners practice witchcraft.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Wofford now does anyone know ?
ReplyDeleteThe deal to sell assets is dead. She is going to jail.
ReplyDeleteThe trial kept being put off because she was attempting to pay restitution, but they length of time between the trials got shorter and shorter. The most recent one was on Thursday. Hopefully there will be an update soon.
ReplyDeleteShe got 2 to 6 years yesterday, March 28. She blamed sleep apnea. It is in today's NY Daily News, page 14. This is Anthony Scott
ReplyDeletethe fact that she blames sleep apnea for stealing 25 mil is rediclous on so many levels, I'm not sure where to begin...my question is, she gets 2 to 6, plus she has to pay restitution...what happens when she can't pay it back? Does she get a longer sentence?
ReplyDeleteDing Dong the witch is sentenced!! 2 to 6 is not enough time!! Anyone who had any dealings with that criminal celebrate!!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to finally hear she got what she deserved!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.travelweekly.com/print.aspx?id=228820
ReplyDeleteA.The fact that anyone thought that the TravelMaster software application was worthy of selling to someone to pay back part of the debt is absurd. I (unfortunately) personally worked on the project and don't know why anyone would want literally hundreds of pages of virtually meaningless data when it could have been summed up in about 10 to 15 pages. It's no wonder a deal couldn't be worked out....
B.I think its laugh-able that Mr. Monaghan assumes that all of Victoria's "employees are taken care of". Obviously, based on the comments above, and the fact that the only thing I have received from Travelmaster since I left was my W-2's (which I'm almost shocked to have received) I would say that her employees will most certainly never receive what is properly due to us.
C.I cannot believe that anyone could honestly agree that Victoria cooked up this hair-brained idea and actually executed it all on her own. I'm certainly glad she is getting what she deserves, but I think a lot of people are quietly walking away from this knowing that they were involved.
D.I only wish I could have been there when the verdict was read.
Let's see...possibly as much as six years - that's a month for every half mil. OR as little as two years - that's a month per mil. Not a bad haul, Victoria. Has to pay back - what a joke! She will declare bankruptcy and be off the hook and then go enjoy what she has stashed.
ReplyDelete"I don't know what I could have been thinking..." Yet another JOKE. What she was thinking was, "Damn, I wish I hadn't gotten caught!"
And I totally agree with the comments above - there are others who knew - like her husband at a minimum. And they way they handled money within the company... where is the IRS on this thing is what I want to know.
Her "innocent" partner walks away with yet another bundle in her pocket with her new job. You would think the very company that Victoria stole from (at least stole the most - there were others she ripped off) would wake up and smell the coffee!
And then there is Tom...
Goodbye yellow brick road...
I still say there is at least person who definitely was in cahoots and I will not call HER name out. There was one MALE who knew what Victoria was doing. They both had access on a daily basis and we all know who they are. Anyone who kissed Victoria's behind was in cahoots. They may have gotten away with it but in the end, God will take care of them and it will not be pretty. You can tell I, Anthony Scott, said so.
ReplyDeletesigh......
ReplyDeleteNow Mr. Rosenthal has taken this to another company and destroyed. He purchased a Sandwich chain out of San Diego with the stolen money and has bankrupted it. He has robbed the founders, robbed the franchisees and continues to walk free instead of being behind bars where he should have been in the first place. This guy is a crook and continues to ruin lives
ReplyDelete