On Friday former Long Island Radio General Manager Stephanie McNamara Bitis was sentenced to 15 months in jail for racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses on the company credit card, including a vacation to Aruba. Back in May McNamara Bitis agreed to pay $302,585 in restitution to the station after she admitted to using the station’s American Express for over 600 personal expenses.
McNamara Bitis was GM for Long Island Radio Broadcasting from 2015- 2017. She also worked for CBS Radio.
Following the sentencing, Long Island Radio Broadcasting owner Lauren Stone told Radio Ink she’s pleased justice was served. “Although LIRB is still picking up the pieces of the mess that was left as a result of the defendant’s fraud and embezzlement, we are hopeful that we can overcome these obstacles and continue to serve the needs of Long Island’s East End.”
Stone launched an investigation after noticing a suspicious wire transfer which caused her to review the company’s American Express statements. After noticing several charges that appeared fraudulent, Stone engaged an outside law firm to conduct the investigation into the radio station’s financials.
Stone says the investigation revealed that McNamara Bits had purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal charges on LIRB’s corporate American Express card. “Among other things, Bitis charged a family vacation to Aruba, personal visits to the orthodontist, boat maintenance and boat fuel and even tax services for delinquent personal income tax payments. She concealed her fraud by submitting falsified documents to LIRB’s accountant. She went so far as to create her own bogus American Express statements, removing vendors such as her orthodontist to hide the personal charges.”
That woman will never work in broadcasting… Or anywhere for that matter again! HEY LADY!!!!!! I guess you learned the lesson, “work for it honestly” had to come to you the hard way….you idiot! You had a job where you were getting paid and you still messed that up! Hope because of your stupid actions that you do not cause people to loose their jobs!
Sleep on that for the next 15 months and for the rest of your life.
“Stone launched an investigation after noticing a suspicious wire transfer which caused her to review the company’s American Express statements.”
It took a wire transfer for the owner to even look at purchase history? That’s nearly as appalling as the fraud itself.
Hmm…blame the victim.
Okay…
When the victim isn’t paying attention, yes.
Another ‘slap on the wrist’, I’m thinking.
With ‘good behavior’, she’ll be out in less than a year. Despite what the station owner says, this is not ‘justice’…not even close.