PR Boss Nicked £19,000 From Activision

[The Wooster]

PR Boss Nicked £19,000 From Activision

PR exec, Kathryn Kirton, managed to siphon nearly twenty grand from Call of Duty's PR budget.

According to the Daily Mail, Forrmer Activision PR exec, Kathryn Kirton, won't be facing any jail time even after admitting she stole a total of £18,963 from the Call of Duty PR budget she was tasked with managing. The cash was supposed to be used to fund the series' increasingly elaborate, film premiere-style launches. Instead, Kirton used the money to fund a number of pricey shopping trips and a £2,000 luxury hotel break with her then fiancé, Lee Kirton (the couple have since parted ways), and a £1,500 engagement party held at London's pricey Café de Paris venue. To add a rather ballsy insult to that injury, she invited her to boss the engagement party.

The fraud was discovered in 2011, when Activision hired investigators to look into Kaye's "odd" purchases.

Both Kirton and her co-defendant, PR consultant Jamie Kaye - who used his company credit card to make the purchases, which Kirton would then authorize - admitted their creative use of Activision's money to Blackfriars Crown Court, and both were convicted of one count of fraud. Kirton was given an 18 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, while Kaye, who also admitted to stealing six iPads from his firm and using his company credit card to pay for a £3,500 trip to Florida, received a nine month sentence, suspended for 12 months. Neither will see any jail time, though Kaye was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.

"You bought a large quantity of designer clothing," said judge, John Hillen, during the sentencing. "You spent time in luxury accommodation and you funded your engagement party through dishonest means. There was repeat dishonesty over a period of months. There is no doubt your wickedness deserves a severe sentence. In the world of PR you are surrounded by luxury items. That is reality for people working in that industry."

Hillen spared Kirton a jail term because of the "devastating effect" it would have on her two-year-old son.

While it's frustrating to see blatant, unrepentant theft go unpunished by the courts, the fraud did result in a rather amusing observation in the Daily Mail comments section.

"I like Activision as a company," explained Mansfield resident, Chez86, "they produce unique games which tend to have gone through much stricter testing than a lot of games produced by EA. Plus they have a much better customer service. To think this couple robbed this company like this makes me so angry, these kinds of things can plunge a company into insolvency, meaning no more of the product they produce. If you want to live a luxury lifestyle, then retrain for a career that will fund it."

Don't worry, Chez, I imagine Activision will scrape by.

Source: The Daily Mail [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312997/PR-boss-siphoned-19-000-makers-Call-Duty-pay-engagement-party-designer-shopping.html]

Permalink

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Rich folk are the greediest sons of bitches in the damn world.

A homeless man steals a loaf bread, this **** steals 20 THOUSAND DOLLARS POUNDS.

And maybe she should have thought about her son BEFORE she stole the god damn money.

Now I'm angry.

Edit: The fact that she stole from Activision is arbitrary. It's still wrong no matter who she steals from.

 

[Karathos]

In this current economic climate, most people would consider having any position, especially an exec's position - at any company a pretty goddamn good state of affairs. But no, that's never enough is it? These morons always have to have more. Why can't people who are doing well just keep doing well instead of trying to do great by stealing from others? The greed of humanity just keeps boggling the mind.

And yeah as CardinalPiggles said: Probably should've thought about her son back when she was making the decision if she should become a CRIMINAL OR NOT.

Stories like this really rustle my jimmies, seriously.

 

[Therumancer]

Wow that comment at the end is hilarious, makes me wonder if Chez is from a parallel dimension with a differant Activision....

That said, the case does seem to be missing a lot of details here, such as how the fraud was uncovered, and any defenses that were on record.

My immediate suspician on reading this is that this is the result of some internal slap fighting at Activision, given the fact that the company apparently didn't push harder for jail time (I imagine if they really pushed that would have happened). Big companies like to find ways of hiding bonuses and such for employees so they won't be on record/taxed/etc... The exact expenses and the unsubtle nature of the inviting one's boss to a party paid for with company funds makes me suspect she was gifted the money she used in company credit. Of course being under tbe table it does mean in the case of executive slap fighting departments tend to audit each other and then point fingers at charges like this and then do things to each others "favored people". I was aware of some garbage like this when I worked at the casinos. One thing the casinos did was give away "comp points" to favored patrons and such which could be used at casino stores, resteraunts, etc... sometimes management would give their buddies permission to comp things on the casino's dime, or provide under the table bonuses or whatever. Use of a convention hall for a private party, "money" that could be spent on jewelery, etc... Every once in a while you'd hear something about (or be involved in) something about how so and so was caught stealing this, or how their wife bought $10k in jewelery or whatever on comp, with theft accusations, firings, etc... but it always seemed to be icing on the cake to other problems because really it wasn't all that sneaky and pretty much impossible to hide. Nobody shows up and drops $10k in comp points out of the comparitive blue and has it go unnoticed for months afterwards....

All speculation on my part, but to me it seems like an internal squabble that happened to get big enough where it spilled out into the real court system for about 30 seconds. I basically can't see Activision not noticing $20k in unusual purchuses through company credit, since that kind of thing tends to be monitored nowadays, and the odds of getting a charge past later auditing are nearly impossible, so yeah... I suspect she had permission at the time, but is also in a position where she probably won't say who it was that allowed it on record due to the relationship/alliance that got her those perks to begin with. I won't be shocked if she's back working for Activision in a similar capacity within six months either.

 

[Abomination]

80 hours of work for her = nearly 19,000 pounds.

That means she's on about 9,500 pounds a week.

She's on 237.50 pounds an HOUR.

She gets paid more in an hour than people in "decent" jobs get paid in a day. AND THAT'S IN POUNDS, one of the highest valued currencies.

And still she feels the need to abuse the company credit card.

Her poor 2 year old baby. ***** can afford a nanny and probably already has one.

 

[Souplex]

I'm not familiar with the exchange rate on monopoly money.
Could someone put that in $Real Money?

 

[regalphantom]

I'm not familiar with the exchange rate on monopoly money.
Could someone put that in $Real Money?

19,000 Pounds is about about 58,500 Brazilian Real

Hope that helps.

 

[Kargathia]

Wow that comment at the end is hilarious, makes me wonder if Chez is from a parallel dimension with a differant Activision....

That said, the case does seem to be missing a lot of details here, such as how the fraud was uncovered, and any defenses that were on record.

My immediate suspician on reading this is that this is the result of some internal slap fighting at Activision, given the fact that the company apparently didn't push harder for jail time (I imagine if they really pushed that would have happened). Big companies like to find ways of hiding bonuses and such for employees so they won't be on record/taxed/etc... The exact expenses and the unsubtle nature of the inviting one's boss to a party paid for with company funds makes me suspect she was gifted the money she used in company credit. Of course being under tbe table it does mean in the case of executive slap fighting departments tend to audit each other and then point fingers at charges like this and then do things to each others "favored people". I was aware of some garbage like this when I worked at the casinos. One thing the casinos did was give away "comp points" to favored patrons and such which could be used at casino stores, resteraunts, etc... sometimes management would give their buddies permission to comp things on the casino's dime, or provide under the table bonuses or whatever. Use of a convention hall for a private party, "money" that could be spent on jewelery, etc... Every once in a while you'd hear something about (or be involved in) something about how so and so was caught stealing this, or how their wife bought $10k in jewelery or whatever on comp, with theft accusations, firings, etc... but it always seemed to be icing on the cake to other problems because really it wasn't all that sneaky and pretty much impossible to hide. Nobody shows up and drops $10k in comp points out of the comparitive blue and has it go unnoticed for months afterwards....

All speculation on my part, but to me it seems like an internal squabble that happened to get big enough where it spilled out into the real court system for about 30 seconds. I basically can't see Activision not noticing $20k in unusual purchuses through company credit, since that kind of thing tends to be monitored nowadays, and the odds of getting a charge past later auditing are nearly impossible, so yeah... I suspect she had permission at the time, but is also in a position where she probably won't say who it was that allowed it on record due to the relationship/alliance that got her those perks to begin with. I won't be shocked if she's back working for Activision in a similar capacity within six months either.

I'm not entirely sure whether I fully buy your version of events, but it certainly feels a bit off for straight-up fraud. It would've taken one accountancy intern taking a peek at the books for the company to realise that shopping trips don't belong in advertising budgets.

 

[Darks63]

Consequences are for poor people it seems.

That pretty much seems to be the case here. If a woman with less to pay for a lawyer tried the "it would hurt my son if i went to jail" Defence they would still go to prison.

at least it is unlikely she will ever hold a job like that again with that kind of black mark on her record, still it isnt proper justice though.

 

[kailus13]

I'm not familiar with the exchange rate on monopoly money.
Could someone put that in $Real Money?

19,000 Pounds is about about 58,500 Brazilian Real

Hope that helps.

It's also 2885131.00 in Japanese yen.

How does she get off stealing when a dude who swung on a stone block gets jail time?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8639930/Pink-Floyd-guitarists-son-Charlie-Gilmour-jailed-for-drug-fuelled-rampage.html

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Wait a second. Let me wrap my head around this. People are honestly upset this woman stole all that money from Activision and did no work for it...while Activision bilks far, far more from the wallets of consumers world wide every year (while doing the same amount of work, mind you)and charging exorbitant prices for piddly DLC, and that's okay?

 

[Abomination]

Wait a second. Let me wrap my head around this. People are honestly upset this woman stole all that money from Activision and did no work for it...while Activision bilks far, far more from the wallets of consumers world wide every year (while doing the same amount of work, mind you)and charging exorbitant prices for piddly DLC, and that's okay?

The point is if a poorer person stole 20,000 pound they'd be serving jail time.

If someone who earns that much in 2 weeks steals 20,000 pound they get a slap on the wrist.

The message the justice system is serving here is "Do not reach above your station!"

Rich people get to do rich people crimes.

Poor people need to stay happy with poor people crimes, like stealing some shoes or a wallet.
Edit: But not a rich person's wallet, you'll go to jail for that. But if you steal a poor person's wallet the police "will not have the resources to investigate, sorry".

 

[Sidmen]

Wait a second. Let me wrap my head around this. People are honestly upset this woman stole all that money from Activision and did no work for it...while Activision bilks far, far more from the wallets of consumers world wide every year (while doing the same amount of work, mind you)and charging exorbitant prices for piddly DLC, and that's okay?

It isn't stealing when people willingly give you their money.

Activision doesn't put a gun to your head and make you buy microsoft points to spend on their games' DLC.

But yes, I'm actively upset that this woman was sentenced to multiple months of Jail time, but the judge said "nah, you didn't think you'd actually have to serve, did ya?" Might as well have not sentenced the woman, and said that her crime wasn't worth prison time.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Wait a second. Let me wrap my head around this. People are honestly upset this woman stole all that money from Activision and did no work for it...while Activision bilks far, far more from the wallets of consumers world wide every year (while doing the same amount of work, mind you)and charging exorbitant prices for piddly DLC, and that's okay?

It isn't stealing when people willingly give you their money.

Activision doesn't put a gun to your head and make you buy microsoft points to spend on their games' DLC.

But yes, I'm actively upset that this woman was sentenced to multiple months of Jail time, but the judge said "nah, you didn't think you'd actually have to serve, did ya?" Might as well have not sentenced the woman, and said that her crime wasn't worth prison time.

While I made a joke, I also made a point, but it seems to have been ignored. I for one wouldn't so much as touch another CoD game if you paid me. ...Well, maybe if you paid me. If the government steps in because it thinks big sodas are bad for you, despite it being what you want, then why can't we start taking away Call of Duty because I firmly believe each one kills braincells.

As for the crime in question, embezzlement/theft is a far lesser crime than oh let's say, murder or rape, but people get away with that all the time, and no one bats an eyelash.

 

[Sidmen]

While I made a joke, I also made a point, but it seems to have been ignored. I for one wouldn't so much as touch another CoD game if you paid me. ...Well, maybe if you paid me. If the government steps in because it thinks big sodas are bad for you, despite it being what you want, then why can't we start taking away Call of Duty because I firmly believe each one kills braincells.

As for the crime in question, embezzlement/theft is a far lesser crime than oh let's say, murder or rape, but people get away with that all the time, and no one bats an eyelash.

Was your point anything other than "I don't like Activision's recent releases and/or DLC practices."? Because if it was, I'm sorry, I missed the point. If that was the point... I don't think that's something that merits much discussion anymore.

People getting away with murder/rape/assault/[insert bad crime here] always invokes rage in people, I'm not sure why you'd say that no one bats an eyelash at them. Anytime there is a miscarriage of Justice people get angry. Not every instance gains widespread public attention, but that's mostly because individual murders/whatevers are local affairs and people have enough stuff going on in their own locales to worry about more than one "big" news item at a time.

 

[treatyoself]

Is her fiance at the time of her being found out, the same guy who does PR at Namco Bandai?

 

[thiosk]

psh

not even 20 grand
Barely worth the slap on the wrist that a white collar conviction will get ya.

Now if she had smashed an ATM machine at a crappy convenience store and made off with 300 bucks, she'd get 20 years.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

On the one hand, fraud. On the other hand, Activision.

 

[Bvenged]

Rich folk are the greediest sons of bitches in the damn world.

A homeless man steals a loaf bread, this **** steals 20 THOUSAND DOLLARS.

And maybe she should have thought about her son BEFORE she stole the god damn money.

Now I'm angry.

Actually, she stole 19 thousand POUNDS, which is about 30 thousand dollars.

But please don't get more angry, it's not like Activision are going bankrupt and peoples jobs are at risk because of her fraud. The only one who lost out was her. She now has the criminal record and reputation, so good luck to her in finding a new well-paid job. There's worse things to be pissed about!