The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Margaret Mayumi Tashiro, 39, of San Jose, California, was sentenced yesterday to serve 24 months in prison following her conviction for embezzling from her former employer, Nokia, Inc.  The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel, sitting in San Jose.  Judge Fogel also ordered Ms. Tashiro to serve three years of supervised release after she is released from federal prison and to pay $529,940 in restitution to Nokia.

Ms. Tashiro was originally indicted on April 30, 2003.  According to the indictment, Ms. Tashiro, who formerly worked as an administrative assistant to the Director of Finance for Nokia, embezzled from her employer by forging a supervisor's signature onto purchase requests used to obtain American Express Gift Checques.   Nokia distributed gift checks as bonuses to its employees.  Instead, the indictment alleged, Ms. Tashiro cashed the gift checks and kept the money.  On September 23, 2003, the defendant pled guilty to a single count of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1343. 

At the sentencing hearing, Ms. Tashiro's attorney argued that she should receive a downward departure, i.e., sentence below the range otherwise called for by the United States Sentencing Guidelines, stating that her conduct was the result of a former bad relationship and a "gambling addiction."  Judge Fogel found that Ms. Tashiro's personal circumstances did not take the case out of the "heartland" of the sentencing guidelines and denied the requested sentencing reduction.  The court instead sentenced the defendant to a term at the low-end of the 24-30 month range called for by the guidelines.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney David Callaway prosecuted the case, with the assistance of legal assistant Tracey Andersen.