Former Microsoft employee gets 2 years for embezzlement

SEATTLE – A former Microsoft sports marketing director has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after admitting he tried to embezzle $1.5 million — including $240,000 worth of Super Bowl tickets.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced Jeff Tran to 28 months Friday. Tran, who oversaw Microsoft’s promotional relationship with the NFL, stole tickets to the 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls and sold them to a broker for his own gain.

He also persuaded a vendor to create a fraudulent $775,000 invoice and turn the money over to him. When he asked the vendor a second time, the vendor reported him.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle noted Microsoft paid Tran hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Tran has paid the company more than $1 million in restitution.