Partner Charged With $400K Theft From Saddle Brook Clothing Company

A partner in charge of overseas production at a Saddle Brook-based fashion design company was charged Thursday with pocketing approximately $400,000 in company funds for personal use, the prosecutor's office said Friday.

Lina Martinez, 31, was charged with theft by deception after investigators uncovered fake invoices she created to account for missing company funds that had been entrusted to her for the set up and operation of a clothing factory in Colombia, authorities said.

Martinez, a founding partner and designer for Marti Prive International LLC, a producer of high-end swim wear, dresses and lingerie located at Park 80 West Plaza in Saddle Brook, had been responsible for setting up a company clothing factory in Colombia, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement.

The company's two other partners, who told investigators they had sent Martinez approximately $400,000 to get the Colombian factory off the ground, contacted authorities when the factory failed to produce any finished products for the company, Molinelli said.

An investigation by the prosecutor's office White Collar Crimes Unit revealed the phony invoices and Martinez was arrested Thursday at her sister's residence in Clifton, a few days after returning from Colombia, Molinelli said.

She was ordered held on $75,000 bail with no 10 percent option.

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