Less than two years for swiping $1 million

Almost a year after pleading guilty, Holli Dawn Coulman, who was an executive assistant to a senior vice president at the Rancho Bernardo operations of Hewlett-Packard, today (August 24) was sentenced to 21 months in prison for embezzling almost $1 million from the company. She has been ordered to pay $954,000 in restitution.

Because of her lofty position at the company, she was provided American Express credit cards that were to be used only for approved business expenses. She used them to spend more than $100,000 at La Costa, $43,000 at Pebble Beach, airfare for trips to Hawaii and Europe, and various luxury purchases.

According to federal court records, she would intercept and delete emails inquiring about the expenditures. She would also fabricate receipts and invoices to cover her tracks.