Exec-Escort Relationship May Have Led To $6M In Credit-Card Fraud
(CBS) – Nearly $6 million was allegedly stolen from a Buffalo Grove medical company over a year and a half – the possible result of a relationship between a former executive and an escort.
CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reports.
The former executive met the escort through an online service back in 2012, according to court records, and they stayed in contact for several years. That's when she started asking for money and ultimately got handed the company credit card.
An unsealed federal search warrant reveals an investigation into two unnamed people. They are identified in published reports as Scott Kennedy, a financial executive at a Buffalo Grove medical device company, and Crystal Lundberg.
She is accused of running up quite a tab, swiping the card for lavish vacations to Bali, France, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Santorini, Bora Bora, and Fiji, among other exotic locations.
Both are under investigation for fraud and money laundering; formal charges have yet to be filed.
The suburban company was taken for about $5.8 million through more than 8,000 fraudulent charges.
Among the charges:
-$12,000 a month rent for a San Diego mansion
-a $50,000 timeshare
-$6,000 for dogs
-$60,000 for two Rolex watches
In a series of frantic texts Lundberg messaged Kennedey about financial worries surrounding a salon she intended on opening.
The warrant says Kennedy was fired from the Buffalo Grove company in March and is said to be cooperating with the investigation.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Kennedy said he was just looking for love and a family and the whole thing blew up in his face.