Renata Shamrakova, the glamorous "personal assistant" to hedge funder Todd Meister admitted in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday that she stole nearly $1 million working for him, the New York Post reported. After a year of denials, Shamrakova came clean in an effort to avert a possible 15-year prison term on grand larceny charges.
She promises to pay back $821,000 back within the next two years.
Shamrakova's parents are reportedly selling a chunk of their upstate property, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said, as reported by the New York Post. Shamrakova told the judge that she was responsible for second degree larceny by a lofty sum from Meister, the ex-husband of socialite Nicky Hilton.
Shamrakova admitted to commiting identity theft by taking out two American Express cards in his name while spending $900,000 in travel expenses to Aruba, Canada, France and Italy. She also purchased thousands of pieces of jewelry, which she sold online for cash. She paid off the cards by writing checks of his JPMorgan account, clearly without his permission.
The Ukranian- born Shamrakova allegedly spent his funds while working as a "personal assistant" between March 2011 and January 2012. While the official documents did not reveal her employer, many publications have identified that she worked for and swindled his money.
She allegedly spent most of the cash while setting up her jewelry business called Karat & Ice- a self-described "trusted carrier of authentic quality designer merchandise." In total, she was charged with 40 felony charges.
If Shamrakova fails to make restitution, she will be sentenced to serve at least one year in prison.
Shamrakova was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and grew up in Long Beach, New York. She graduated from Hofstra University, also studying acting at the Peter Kelly Acting School, according to a web site.
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