Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former director of the home shopping network QVC has been charged with defrauding the company out of more than $1 million that he used to pay for a lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said Thursday.
James Falkowski, 42, duped the company into paying for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spa treatments, clothing, Botox treatments and restaurant meals, authorities said. He is also accused of engaging in kickback schemes with two vendors that ultimately paid him $240,000 for arranging insider deals with the company.
Even though he was fired from the company in 2013, a court indictment states, Falkowski raked in money from QVC between 2008 and 2016, thanks to an agreement with the vendors that he be given a percentage of their royalties.
In one scheme detailed by prosecutors, he disclosed internal QVC documents to representatives from a public relations firm so that the company could get more money in royalties from the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based retailer in exchange for a cut of their profits.
He then laundered his own personal expenses, flights to vacation destinations such as Turks and Caicos, as well as swanky hotel stays, through the firm by charging them for the costs then instructing the firm to submit fraudulent invoices to QVC. In some cases, he himself wrote the falsified invoices to QVC.
Falkowski, of Buffalo, New York, faces about 11 years in prison for the various fraud charges.
No phone number was listed for Falkowski, and attempts to reach him on social media were unsuccessful.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
