Denver woman sentenced to prison for embezzling nearly half a million dollars from Amazon

DENVER (KKTV) – A Denver woman has been sentenced to prison for stealing nearly half a million dollars from Amazon.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 37-year-old Tiffany Vo, who was once employed by Amazon, devised and executed a scheme during the pandemic to bill the retail giant for corporate events that did not actually take place. Vo then turned around and used the embezzled money to pay off her apartment, buy two cars, treat herself to designer handbags and sunglasses, and buy thousands of dollars worth of beauty products.

“Instead of working for her employer, this defendant secretly worked against her employer. During her deception, she stole nearly $500,000 and used the money to live exorbitantly beyond her means,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek. “Members of the FBI’s Denver Financial Crimes Team succeeded in unraveling the defendant’s embezzlement scheme, and now she faces the justice she has earned.”

According to the plea agreement obtained by our sister station CBS Denver, Vo worked as an executive development program manager and later as a senior program manager for Amazon. Part of her duties included managing an executive development program called the Escape Velocity program, which was held every other month in Seattle before the COVID-19 crisis but went virtual during the pandemic. The plea agreement states that Vo continued to charge Amazon fees for reimbursement for a variety of items related to the program, such as happy hours and catering, that never actually occurred. She also spent tens of thousands of dollars on her company credit card on personal items and demanded reimbursement.

The company became aware of her scheme in 2022, leading to her dismissal and later criminal charges.

She was sentenced last week to a year and a day in prison, three years of supervised release — and will have to pay back the full $483,393 stolen from Amazon.

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