Priya B's insights...

By the standards of most folks, Priya Bhambi was having a successful career for herself.

With an undergraduate degreee and an MBA from Northeastern University, she was a VP at Takeda, a well-known pharma, where her role was working on the company's overall technology foundation, with a particular focus on digital transformation. I'm not privy to her salary info, but I'll make a quasi-educated guess here

that her total compensation package was well north of $300K.

Now that figure is not as mind-boggling as it sounds. It costs a lot to live here. 

Still, you can certainly live pretty darn comfortably in Boston on $300K.

But it wasn't enough for Priya and her boyfriend Samuel Montronde, especially when they were hankering to live in in the trendy Boston Seaport District and especially when wedding bells were starting to chime. 

Whatever the motivation, the duo wanted to live much larger than they could on a meager $300K (and whatever Montronde was bringing in). 

So they cooked up a fake consulting company to do some fake consulting work - approved by Bhambi, un-performed by Montronde - to the tune of $2.3M, which was:

...used the fraudulently obtained funds to purchase a Mercedes-Benz Model E; purchase a diamond engagement ring; make a down payment on a $1.875 million condominium in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood; and place a deposit on a wedding venue. (Source: US DOJ) 

Bhambi has now pleaded guilty. Sentencing to follow. (She's facing up to twenty years and a hefty fine...) Plus:

In connection with the charges, the Court issued seizure warrants for the Mercedes, over $1 million in fraud proceeds from accounts the defendants controlled, $49,985 from the wedding venue deposit and issued a restraining order to preserve the Seaport condominium for forfeiture.

Recently, when the news of her plea deal came out, after shaking my head at wonderment about what a freaking fool she is, I went to the Google to see if I could find a bit more info on Priya Bhambi. 

Among the goodies I came across was an article by Bhambi published on a LinkedIn site last summer - months after she was indicted - in which she blathered on about how "Digital Transformation is Fostering Workplace Diversity." Great if that's the case,  but EmployabilityLife might want to stop taking advice from Priya Bhambi. 

For example: she writes about how those hoping for a more inclusive and diverse workplace should focus on monitoring and metrics. Focusing on monitoring and metrics is likely what tripped up Bhambi and her co-conspirator. I mean, while they managed to get away with their theft for a while, somewhere it looks like there were some controls at Takeda that kicked in. Some monitoring. Some metrics.

And Bhambi was quite a bit up on "remote and flexible work arrangements... granting personnel more freedom over where, when, and how they work, resulting in greater job satisfaction and better mental health." Wonder if it was those remote and flexible work arrangements that enabled Bhambi to get away with their scam for a while. And stealing a couple of million bucks no doubt gave her "greater job satisfaction" but probably not, in the long run, "better mental health."

And amazingly Priya Bhambi's personal/professional website is still up, where we learn that:

Priya Bhambi is a highly accomplished executive in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry...[who] has consistently achieved remarkable results and contributed to organizational growth.

She goes on to tout her "innovative mindset" - I'll give her that - and her ongoing ability to "achieve cost savings." Ummmm....Then there's the fact that she's "deeply committed to giving back to the community." You don't say. (One hand giveth, one hand taketh away.)

Oh, and she's "a passionate baker" who's also "passionate about dance," particularly Bhangra - a really fun-looking form of Indian dance, which I'm guessing would have factored into the dream wedding she was planning on throwing for herself.

Reading about Priya Bhambi, she comes across as highly intelligent, highly accomplished, interesting, driven, good. WTF went wrong? 

I really don't get embezzlement. Even if people think it's just okie dokie to put their hand in their company's till right on up to the elbow, don't they worry that they'll get caught???

What a moron, what a fool, what a fraud...(What a disgrace to her family...)

Pretty insightful when it comes to the digital technology world. Wonder if she's equally insightful when it comes to thinking about what motivated her to toss her life away.

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Prior Priya Pinkslip.