An Internal Revenue Service employee has been charged with embezzling government funds for using a government-issued purchase card to go on a shopping spree at Amazon.com.
Yetunde Oseni, a 37-year-old secretary who has worked for the IRS since 2000 in Maryland, allegedly used an IRS-issued Citibank MasterCard to buy items such as a chocolate fondue fountain, Harlequin romance novels, Bollywood movie videos, a candy and toy piñata, Omaha Steaks, trench coats, a set of dinnerware, children’s pop-up books, Pampers, mango body wash, riding boots and skinny jeans, according to a criminal complaint posted on
The purchase card was supposed to be used for office expenses. The unauthorized purchases she made between June 2009 and March 2013 allegedly amounted to $8,515 in government losses.
A routine audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration last December uncovered 38 unauthorized purchases and transactions totaling $2,655. Each time, according to the complaint, Oseni submitted what appeared to be a legitimate invoice for a legitimate office purchase on behalf of the IRS.
TIGTA special agent Tracey V. Giannakoulias took a closer look at the invoices and compared them to the records she obtained from Amazon and noticed the discrepancies. She theorized that Oseni may have used her IRS-issued computer or a home computer to create fake receipts and invoices for the items.
Oseni is free on bond, but faces up to 10 years in prison. A hearing is scheduled for next month.
