Ventura woman convicted of embezzling $1.3M from publisher
A Ventura woman who is the former president of a Beverly Hills-based publisher was convicted Sept. 23 of embezzling at least $1.3 million from the company and its owner.
Kimberly Ann Miletta, 51, of Ventura, was found guilty by a federal court jury of three counts of wire fraud but was acquitted of two other wire fraud counts.
According to evidence presented at a five-day trial, from 2009 to 2018, Miletta was president of Phoenix Books, an independent book and audio publisher owned by the victim identified in court documents only as “J.O.”
As president, Miletta had full control over the business, including its finances, but was only authorized to use company funds to pay for legitimate business expenses, federal prosecutors said.
From October 2013 to January 2018, Miletta embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars by using the company credit card to pay for personal items, and then paid for the credit card bills out of the company owner’s personal bank account, according to prosecutors.
She used the credit card to pay for, among other things, personal spa treatments, designer handbags, high-end clothing, a multi-thousand-dollar mattress, and years’ worth of veterinary bills and pet products for her cats.
Miletta also made a fraudulent wire transfer out of the company owner’s personal account of nearly $1 million, which she used to buy an ocean-view home in Ventura, prosecutors said.
