Woman Sentenced for Stealing $457K From Microsoft

A 33-year-old Lynnwood woman was sentenced in U.S. District Court Thursday to four years in prison for stealing nearly a half-million dollars from  accounts that had been established to pay for intern relocation expenses.

Authorities say Manyvone Phanhsiry was working in Kirkland for the Danbury, Conn.-based Cartus Corporation, a company that provides relocation services to Microsoft and other companies, when she devised a scheme to steal money that the software company had set aside to pay for intern housing. In total, Phanhsiry stole $457,000 over a two-year period and used the funds to purchase luxury cars, pay for her wedding, and take trips to Las Vegas.

In addition to her prison sentence, Phanhsiry was also ordered to pay $457,000 in restitution.

In her role with Cartus, Phanhsiry was in charge of ordering and distributing debit cards to interns for them to use to pay for housing while working at Microsoft. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Phanhsiry ordered 150 debit cards in interns' names, had them delivered to her home, and then used the accounts to withdraw funds more than 500 times over a two-year period.

Bruce Perlman, senior vice president and general counsel of Cartus Corporation, described in court Thursday how Phanhsiry's theft had damaged the trust between Microsoft and Cartus and put jobs at the Kirkland office at risk. Had Cartus lost the Microsoft business, the office would have been closed and 55 people would have lost their jobs, he said. 

The fraud was discovered when a former intern contacted Microsoft to ask about a tax form he received regarding a card he had never used before. In their sentencing memo, prosecutors cited the damage Phanhsiry may have caused to the interns' financial reputation.

“All told, she compromised the identities of more than 150 Microsoft interns by utilizing sensitive personal information, including social security numbers to commit her crime," the memo said. "Many of the interns were from foreign countries and may not be aware of the impact on them."

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—Information from the U.S. Department of Justice