A glamorous fraudster who stole nearly £115,000 from two companies before blowing thousands on jewellery and beauty products has been jailed. Alaska Freeman, 40, of Radford, Nottinghamshire, used her role as an account manager and treasurer to swindle the cash from her employers. She duped her bosses with a fake CV but was promoted and received bonuses while working at Maun Industries in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. Freeman was also made manager of a second firm, Ketchum Manufacturing Company, which Maun bought in 2013. But investigators discovered she had increased her own salary, made personal purchases on company credit cards and transferred cash into her own account. Police also found out she had lied on her CV about her qualifications which landed her the job with Maun in 2012. Yesterday, Freeman admitted ten counts of fraud and was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Nottingham Crown Court.
The court heard her crimes were exposed in August 2015 when HMRC demanded more than £100,000 in unpaid National Insurance and PAYE contributions. Investigators discovered Freeman had been syphoning company cash into her own account and stealing petty cash totalling around £101,000. Freeman was immediately suspended while an internal investigation was undertaken, and this revealed further significant discrepancies in her accounting. She was dismissed for gross misconduct but, after she was bailed in February 2016, she successfully applied for a job as financial controller at Nexor in Nottingham. She also transferred more than £10,000 from the company into her personal bank account. Freeman used company credit cards to buy jewellery, clothing, computer equipment and beauty products totalling more than £3,200. Eddie Thomas of Maun Industries said: 'Never in my long business career have I ever experienced such an utter betrayal of trust and blatant deceit.' The financial impact on Maun Industries of these crimes was severe and it has taken three years' hard work by our dedicated employees for the business to recover and again be successful.