Monica Svobodny, 51, of Eden Prairie, pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.137 million from her employer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota announced Thursday.
Svobodny pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court before Judge Ann D. Montgomery. The charge stemmed from unauthorized personal expenses she made on company credit cards, including designer clothing, spa services, and luxury hotel stays.
Court documents reveal Svobodny used her position as supply chain and engineering manager at Sico Inc., a furniture and home furnishing manufacturing company in Edina, to embezzle the money over a seven-year period. She frequently made unauthorized personal purchases with company credit cards, leaving these expenses marked as “pending” in accounting records. Svobodny also used the cards to transfer funds to herself via PayPal for personal use on more than 300 occasions, editing PayPal receipts to list some expenses as payments to a nonexistent company.
The Edina Police Department, with FBI assistance, conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea A. Walcker is prosecuting the case.
Comments
We offer several ways for our readers to provide feedback. Your comments are welcome on our social media posts (Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn). We also encourage Letters to the Editor; submission guidelines can be found on our Contact Us page. If you believe this story has an error or you would like to get in touch with the author, please connect with us.