A former office operations manager at Morrison & Foerster has pleaded guilty to felony mail fraud for using a law firm credit card to make at least $425,000 in personal purchases.
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Andrew Robertson, who managed offices in both Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia, pleaded guilty in D.C. federal court and will be sentenced in August of this year, the National Law Journal reports.
During the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy noted several of those unauthorized purchases, including a pair of $250 Prada jeans. An October 2019 affidavit supporting the criminal complaint and arrest warrant alleged that Robertson also used the credit card to pay for jewelry, other designer clothing, home furnishings, groceries, his phone bill, storage units for his personal items, and even payments to his PayPal account.
Specific items allegedly purchased include: a 60-inch LED TV; a sleeper bed; Air Jordan, Prada and Gucci sneakers; Gucci ankle boots; a prom king costume; a Roomba vacuum; a goose down parka with coyote fur; Bath & Body works candles; a MacBook Air computer; a Cartier watch; and a pinkie ring.
Robinson was hired in February of 2012 and fired in November of 2018 after an internal audit detected the suspicious activity.
A spokesperson for Morrison & Foerster stated that the firm terminated Robertson and told law enforcement immediately after it “discovered his alleged stealing of firm property” during that internal audit. “Mr. Robertson’s actions did not impact any of the firm’s clients. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement on this matter,” the firm said.
Robertson is also accused of attempting to cover his tracks by creating fraudulent invoices and making fake entries in the the firm’s accounts. Officers conducted a search of Robertson’s last known address in July 2019 to attempt to recover some of the designer items but the apartment was empty and Robertson apparently no longer lived there.
Robertson is currently on a $250,000 bond pending his trial.
