Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Mr. Lockard joined as co-founder knowing the power of a broker-dealer combined with distribution reach for public finance opportunities. Prior to 280 CapMarkets, Tom Lockard worked at Fundrise, a pioneering fintech company specializing in commercial real estate.
Previously, Tom was a Managing Director at Stone & Youngberg and a member of the company’s Executive committee and Board of Directors. Mr. Lockard served as a Public Finance Banker specializing in California municipal finance, special tax, assessment, tax increment, housing, utility, nonprofit, general obligation, and lease. Over his 30-year career at Stone & Youngberg Mr. Lockard structured more than 500 municipal bond issues representing more than $6 billion.
Mr. Lockard earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Claremont Graduate University, and Stanford University.
Keith Smith is CEO of Payability.
Fouad Khalil is head of compliance at SecurityScorecard, Inc.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
