Stealing From The City's Coffers To Buy Bling

A man was arrested for stealing $3.6 million - and the money was from a city bank account! Unemployed social worker Tracy Ball used the money to buy jewelry from TV-and-online retailer Jewelry Television; then he'd pawn the jewelry for cash to pay bills - and some other luxury items. When he was arrested at his Brooklyn home, the AP reported that investigator found him with "two huge plasma televisions, $35,000 in cash, and several expensive sport utility vehicles."

The account Ball stole from was used to pay the city's worker's compensation claims, and it seems like the City Comptroller's office didn't notice that the millions were being stolen between March 2006 and March 2007. They only realized the thefts had been going on after JP Morgan Chase contacted them; Jewelry Television had became suspicious when Ball ordered $800,000 worth of items (like 20 diamond bracelets), so they called the bank.

Ball made over 600 transactions to steal money, shipping them to his home, his girlfriend's home, the shelter he worked at, and another social service agency. He had worked at Renewal on Bowery and would even wear some of his bling to his $30,000/year job. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said, "He was too busy stealing to hold a job," noting that Ball was fired in January. And, fittingly, when the police busted him, he was watching Jewelry Television.