Manager of foreign fashion brand store held for embezzlement

A manager, with a former employee of a foreign fashion brand store, allegedly caused the franchise over 140,000 yuan (US$22,000) in losses, Shanghai police said on Thursday.

The manager, a man surnamed Mao, allegedly sold garments at a discount to the former employee, a woman surnamed Zhang, and then allowed them to be changed for full-price items from the new collection later.

Zhang sold the new collections on her Taobao shop at a profit, police said.

Mao was working as a “floor manager” of the franchise. The franchise manager, a man surnamed Xue, reported to Huangpu District police in July last year that hundreds of garments from its new collections had been sold at discounts without the permission of the store.

Mao confessed that he allowed Zhang to return the garments bought at discounts and change for new collections at the same discounts.

Both Mao and Zhang have been detained and are facing embezzlement charges, police said.

Even though Zhang no longer works at the franchise, she is considered an accomplice.

Investigations lasted a few months because it took a lot of effort to determine the number of irregularly sold garments, according to the police.