Maersk clerk nabbed

An ousted Maersk billing clerk is facing hard time after a US judge sentenced the staffer to 17 months in prison for embezzling over a quarter of a million dollars from the Danish shipping giant.

Stanton is also facing 40 hours of community service.

Virginia Lee Uy Stanton of Graham, Washington, was also ordered to pay $263,599 in restitution for wire fraud, according to court documents.

The 47-year-old began working for a US subsidiary of the company in 2002 but her employment was terminated in June 2009 when the scheme was discovered.

Over a period of three years, Stanton submitted false check requests to Maersk's North Carolina-based accounting department.

The timetable weighed heavily on the judges ruling.

“You made an intentional decision to steal from your employer 116 times,” Tacoma federal judge Benjamin Settle said in a statement.

“Your employer was not just a corporation, behind the corporation were people, you cheated stockholders and you affected your co-workers,” the judge added.

According to local media reports, the fraudulent funds were fuelling Stanton's drug and gambling addictions.

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