Tiffany vice-president pleads guilty to stealing more than $2 million in 164 pieces of diamond jewelry from New York store

Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, was arrested at home in Darien, Connecticut

Former executive pleads guilty to taking rings, bracelets, earrings and pendants

'I knew it was illegal to steal, and I did so regardless. ... I'm very sorry,' she says in Manhattan court



Busted at Tiffany: Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, has been given a year in prison after stealing $1.2m jewellery

A former Tiffany vice-president pleaded guilty on Friday to charges she stole an assortment of little blue box bling worth more than $2 million from the famous Fifth Avenue jeweler's inventory.

Appearing in federal court in Manhattan, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, admitted she had stashed the jewelry in her home in upmarket Darien, Connecticut, where she was arrested earlier this month.

'I knew it was illegal to steal, and I did so regardless. ... I'm very sorry,' she told a judge before pleading guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.

As vice president of product development, Lederhaas-Okun had authority to check out jewelry from Tiffany to provide to potential manufacturers to determine production costs.



Authorities alleged that after she left Tiffany in February, the company discovered she had checked out 164 items that were never returned.

The items included numerous diamond bracelets in 18-carat gold, diamond drop and hoop earrings in platinum or 18-carat gold, diamond rings in platinum, rings with precious stones in 18-carat gold, and platinum and diamond pendants.

When confronted about the missing jewelry, Lederhaas-Okun claimed that she had left some of it behind at Tiffany and that some had been lost or damaged, according to a criminal complaint.



Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun pictured departing Manhattan Federal Court after her arraignment on July 2



Manhattan icon: Shoppers walk past the 5th Avenue flagship store of Tiffany where Lederhaas-Okun stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewellery