Former Celestial Seasonings manager accused of embezzling $1.8M
The brown bear appearing on boxes of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea; a brand of The Hain Celestial Group, in Melville. Credit: Handout
A former manager at Celestial Seasonings, a unit of the Melville-based Hain Celestial Group Inc., has been accused by Boulder, Colo., police of embezzling more than $1.8 million from the tea company over the past five years.
Reports from denverpost.com, The Associated Press and the Boulder Daily Camera say Jeffrey Wagner is now facing felony theft and forgery charges.
Wagner worked for Celestial Seasonings from 2006 until June of this year, when, the company says, he was fired over performance issues.
According to denverpost.com, in August, Irwin D. Simon, Hain's chief executive, told the FBI the company suspected Wagner had been embezzling from the Boulder operation.
Wagner is accused of setting up a fake account and authorizing invoices be paid to the account.
Wagner told authorities he was unaware of the fake account.
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