Tommy Hilfiger Former CFO Pleads Guilty To $19 Million Fraud

LawFuel – Legal Announcements MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MARTIN S. BODNER
(“BODNER”), the former Chief Financial Officer of Tommy Hilfiger
Handbags and Small Leather Goods Inc. (“THHB”) — a licensee to
the Tommy Hilfiger Group — pled guilty today before United
States District Judge P. KEVIN CASTEL to mail fraud and wire
fraud charges. The charges arose out of BODNER’s theft, between
about the middle of 2000 and the end of December 2007, of over
$19,090,000 from his employer. According to the Information and
other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, as well as
statements made during BODNER’s guilty plea proceeding:

BODNER began working at THHB in Manhattan in March
2000, eventually becoming the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Beginning in about the middle of that year, BODNER began stealing
money from his employer by: (1) secretly increasing the amount of
money that he was to be paid in salary and bonus; (2) arranging
to be reimbursed by THHB for phony expenses he purportedly had
incurred in the course of his employment; (3) adding one of his
sons, who did not work for THHB during the years 2004 and 2005,
to the company’s payroll and arranging for his son to be paid
approximately $225,500 during those years;(4) causing hundreds of
checks to be issued to various payees for the purpose of paying
off BODNER’s personal credit card bills, purchasing a luxury
automobile for himself, paying for insurance for a home,
apartments, and automobiles owned by BODNER, and paying for
decorating services.

BODNER, age 60, resides in Manhattan. He faces a
maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the mail and wire fraud
charges, and in connection with his agreement to plead guilty,
has agreed to forfeit a home in Sands Point, New York, a
Manhattan apartment, three cars, and various other property.
BODNER is scheduled to be sentenced by United States
District Judge P. KEVIN CASTEL on November 5, 2008.

Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in this case.
The case is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of
the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States
Attorney DANIEL W. LEVY is in charge of this prosecution.
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