As reported in the Daily Mail, a PR exec working for Activision on games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been found guilty of siphoning off £18,963 ($28,949 at today's exchange rate) from the publisher to spend on designer clothes, a two-night stay in a luxury hotel, and an expensive engagement party. According to the Mail, the court heard that Kirton had got “carried away” by the “luxurious” world of PR, which led to her taking money from the budget for a premiere-style launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops to spend on herself.
Kirton was aided by Jamie Kaye, a consultant for Frank PR (the company that handles PR for Activision) whom she'd hired to help with the launch of the game. Kaye used his company credit card to pay for Kirton's purchases and then charged them to Activision. The prosecutor gave the example of a £5,506 spend on clothing that was falsely billed as clothing for a magazine shoot to do with the launch of Modern Warfare 2. Kaye didn't only commit fraud for the sake of Kirton, however. He also stole six iPads from Frank PR and charged the firm for a family holiday to Florida.
Both PR reps pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. Kirton's sentence was for eighteen months in prison, but it has been suspended because she has a young son. Kaye got a nine-month sentence, but his was also suspended, this time for twelve months; he has also been ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
According to the judge, “cases like this are happening more and more often”. Are you surprised?
