A greedy Manhattan marketing exec who stole nearly $6 million from employers — splashing some of the dough on a $150,000 engagement ring — landed up to nine years behind bars in a plea deal Monday.
Michael Collins, 62, got slammed with the hard time after he admitted in April to embezzling millions of dollars from companies he used to work for to fund his extravagant high-flying lifestyle.
“I hope this sentencing sends a message to New York executives who exploit Manhattan businesses – you will be held accountable,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brokered the three- to nine-year prison deal.
Collins, former chief marketing officer for the digital banking platform nCino, spent his looted booty on a slew of high-priced luxuries, including executive club memberships, luxury brands, fine dining and extensive travel and lodging, prosecutors said.
The crook — dressed in a white t-shirt underneath a gray zipped hoodie for his Manhattan Supreme Court sentencing — elaborately set up two fake companies to steal money from his jobs between March 2016 and April 2024.
Under the guise of his bogus firms — Quattro Quadrati LLC and Regiondrivers LLC – Collins falsified email addresses, phone numbers and bank accounts to make his scheme appear legitimate, according to the indictment.
Collins went to extremes to make the companies look real by creating fake workers to cover his tracks over the eight-year scheme, according to prosecutors.
The former exec had a penchant for traveling, booking more than 150 flights during the period of the thefts — in addition to buying a $150,000 engagement ring from a boutique jewelry store.
Prosecutors have said that in total, Collins stole $5 million from a financial education company where he served as the chief marketing officer before he left in 2022.
He then continued his scheme at his next job where he became the chief marketing and revenue officer for an unnamed education technology company — stealing another nearly $1 million before he was caught, court papers show.
Collins pleaded guilty to two counts of grand larceny April 22.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Julieta Lozano also issued judgement orders to the companies that Collins ripped off.
“Michael Collins took full responsibility for his actions and apologized in court,” his lawyer, Seth Zuckerman, told The Post after sentencing. “He looks forward to paying his debt and being a productive member of the community upon his release.”