Crime by no means pays. Unless you get away with it. Ermenildo “Ernie” Castro seemingly didn’t. The former software program engineer at Zulily is accused of stealing over $300,000 from the web retailer by means of a scheme straight out of the 1999 slacker revenge film Office Space. He now claims the cash’s all gone, telling police he misplaced most of it betting on GameStop meme inventory choices.
Documents filed by prosecutors in Kings County Superior Court final month element an audacious scheme by a white collar employee to tear off his bosses, a scheme whose execution left greater than a bit of to be desired. Charged with two counts of felony theft and one depend of felony identification theft, Castro allegedly manipulated the code on Zulily’s checkout web page to siphon off at the least $261,885 in delivery charges into his private Stripe banking account.
He then allegedly proceeded to vary the costs on merchandise, paying pennies on the greenback for them and having them shipped on to his dwelling the place they piled up in entrance of his door. Prosecutors declare he stole $40,842 this fashion for a complete theft quantity of $302,278.52. When interviewed by police after his arrest, Castro admitted the determine may have been even larger, however mentioned the cash was all gone.
“He clarified that he had used the money to invest in stock options, particularly GameStop stock options,” the courtroom paperwork learn. It’s unclear which precise choices he wager on that left him zeroed out by the meme inventory.
According to prosecutors, Castro started skimming off the highest of Zulily’s transactions in February 2022. The firm grew to become conscious of the discrepancies the next month and ordered Castro and others to analyze. That’s when he allegedly up to date the code to double cost clients. The firm had additionally began to flag the bizarre purchases delivery to Castro’s dwelling. In June a fellow worker visited to analyze and located “several Zulily labeled boxes piled outside of the home’s front door and driveway.”
Castro instructed Zulily and police that the purchases had been simply check orders that he simply forgot to cancel. However, e mail data allegedly present Castro ordering stuff particularly for a girl he met on Tinder. She would ship him hyperlinks to stuff she needed, and he would reply again with a coronary heart emoji to point out it had been bought. When requested about this by police, “Castro was unable to provide an immediate answer, and ultimately said he placed the orders for her in order to ‘peacock.’”
Castro returned his work laptop computer on June 9 when he was fired, which additionally didn’t do him any favors. When Zulily searched it, the corporate reportedly found a OneApp file named “OfficeSpace Project.” Prosecutors say it went by means of his scheme intimately, together with changes he made to attempt to preserve it hidden from administration. Asked by police, Castro even admitted that Office Space, a film about employees self-actualizing by stealing small quantities of cash from hundreds of thousands of firm transactions, was what the scheme within the file was named after. It’s unclear who Castro’s lawyer was or if he ever referred to as one.
Possibly cementing the case for police was what they reportedly found after they searched Castro’s dwelling. After executing a warrant on July 21, they claimed to have positioned an “exorbitant number” of Zulily orders, many nonetheless of their authentic packaging. Among them was a “Gray Linen Convertible Sofa Bed” priced at $565.99 that Castro allegedly solely paid $1 for. Maybe he ought to have tried to promote it to GameStop.
Castro’s arraignment is scheduled for later this month. At $16 a share, GameStop’s inventory is at present decrease than at any time because the Office Space plan allegedly began to unfold. But it’s potential the funds are nonetheless on the market someplace. Prosecutors consider Castro could have made preparations previous to his arrest. In one a part of the “OfficeSpace Project” doc he reportedly wrote, “Pre-pare off-grid backup plan.”
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