A 47-year-old El Dorado Hills woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud after authorities say she siphoned nearly $18 million from her employer over about 9 years and 8 months, using the money to bankroll designer handbags, Rolex watches, resort vacations, and private jet travel. Lizbeth Guadalupe Sherman worked as an executive assistant tasked with paying her employer's credit card expenses, a role prosecutors say she exploited between September 2015 and May 2025.
According to Action News Now, Sherman used her access to a retired Bay Area venture capitalist's bank account to pay her own personal credit card bills and then resold designer products bought with her employer's money on online platforms. The outlet reports she earned more than $450,000 on one online platform over nine months in 2025 alone, apparently flipping the very luxury goods her scheme had funded.
What Investigators Found Inside Her Home
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sherman's residence in December 2025 and recovered more than 1,500 luxury items, the same report states. Investigators found dozens of Louis Vuitton handbags, Christian Louboutin boots, and a display case of handbags made of exotic furs, along with designer handbags, Rolex watches, and premium wine, per the outlet's account. Sherman also owned a residence valued at $2 million, the station notes.
The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit led the probe, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service Asset Forfeiture Program assisting, according to the same report. Her spending, as described in that account, went well beyond handbags and jewelry — stretching to vehicles and improvements to her own residence, all allegedly charged to her employer's accounts over the decade she held the position.
Sentencing Set for Spring 2027
Sherman is scheduled for sentencing on March 22, 2027, before U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb, the station reports. She faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to the same account. Her plea agreement requires her to forfeit assets and pay nearly $18 million in restitution to her employer, the outlet notes.
Cases that drag on for years tend to produce outsized losses, according to broader fraud data. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' 2026 report, which analyzed 2,402 occupational fraud cases investigated across 143 countries and territories, found that schemes lasting more than five years had median losses exceeding $1.1 million, compared with just $40,000 for fraud caught within six months, per acfe.com.
A Common Pattern of Misplaced Trust
The same ACFE report found that asset misappropriation — schemes like paying personal expenses with someone else's money — was the most common form of occupational fraud, appearing in 90% of the cases studied. More than half of all cases involved either a lack of internal controls or an override of existing controls, the report found, and tips remained the most frequent way such schemes came to light, accounting for 43% of cases.
The alleged decade-long scheme involved extensive luxury purchases, and Sherman is due in federal court next spring for sentencing.
