Koss's $20 Million Embezzlement Should Be a Wake-Up Call to Execs

Although 2009 will go down in history as a year in which an appalling number of Ponzi schemes were exposed, it should not be forgotten that other white collar crimes can be just as devastating to companies. Corporate embezzlement, for instance. Stereophonic headphone maker Koss Corp. appears to have suffered the largest employee theft in 2009, if the company's internal investigation is correct. The U.S. Attorney's office in Milwaukee filed a criminal complaint against the company's Vice President of Finance Sujata "Sue" Sachdeva in connection with an alleged $4.5 million shopping spree, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the alleged "unauthorized transactions" could total $20 million. Koss fired Sachdeva in December.