Telus sues former senior manager who allegedly misappropriated $180,000
Credit to Author: Keith Fraser| Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 23:26:41 +0000
Telus is suing a former senior manager who allegedly misappropriated nearly $180,000 for personal expenses.
The telecommunications giant claims that Lisa Ballinger, who commenced her employment with Telus in May 2016 as a senior marketing manager, began using her company corporate credit card to “unlawfully convert” and misappropriate funds.
Ballinger, who became an account manager for Telus in November 2017 and a client-services manager in November 2018, is alleged to have used the money for payment of her children’s tuition at two private schools and for personal travel expenses, including car rentals, hotels and B.C. Ferries.
In a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Telus also alleges she used the money for personal expenses, including clothing, car maintenance, groceries, gardening services, dry cleaning, as well as for cash advances.
“Telus is unaware of the full amount of misappropriated amounts that Ballinger unlawfully transferred, converted or otherwise charged to her corporate credit card,” says the lawsuit. “However, a preliminary investigation conducted by Telus suggests that the misappropriated amounts total more than $180,000.”
The suit claims that on March 22 the company’s corporate credit-card office found out that Ballinger had left a number of unreconciled expenses in draft form and in a “suppressed uncleared” state in Telus’s expense reporting and approval system, so that Telus would not be alerted to them.
“Upon clearing these expenses, Telus discovered a significant number of unapproved and unreconciled expenses incurred by Ballinger that were apparently for personal use,” says the lawsuit. “Some of these expenses had also been incurred after February 2019, when Ballinger was off work on sick leave. Following the discovery, Telus’s corporate security team was contacted regarding Ballinger’s suspected use of her corporate credit card for fraudulent purposes.”
The company says it investigated the matter between March and April and made its determination about the funds.
“As part of this investigation, Telus interviewed Ballinger, who was unable to appropriately explain the misappropriated funds,” says the suit. “Ballinger also admitted that some of these expenses were for personal use and agreed to repay some of the misappropriated amounts. Following Telus’s investigation, Telus terminated Ballinger’s employment with cause.”
The company claims it made multiple demands for repayment of the funds but has not received any amounts in repayment.
It’s seeking damages for breach of contract, breach of trust, conversion and fraud, as well as punitive or exemplary damages and investigation costs.
The company says that Ballinger owed Telus a duty to act with integrity, loyalty and good faith, and not to damage its financial position or act fraudulently or misrepresent purchases made on Telus’s corporate card.
No response has been filed to the suit that contains allegations that have not been tested in court. Ballinger was reached at her current workplace — United Way of Greater Victoria — on Tuesday and said the matter was in the hands of her lawyer.
-With files from David Carrigg