Luxury loot liquidation: Auction helps Starbucks recover missing millions
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Whatever her faults, Rosemary Heinen had expensive taste.
She favored high-end cars, like a 1914 Ford Model T, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz replica roadster, a 1997 Aston Martin DB7 and a 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo. She had a fleet of 31 cars. She also liked Steinway pianos, and had three of them, even though she couldn't play a note.
And jewelry, lots of jewelry.
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The items were seized from Heinen after she was accused of embezzling $3.7 million from the coffee giant beginning in November 1999. Although she has never confessed guilt, Heinen agreed last month in a civil lawsuit settlement to repay Starbucks $2.5 million.
Proceeds from the auction, which will be conducted by James G. Murphy Co. of Kenmore, will go to Starbucks to repay the difference.
Most of the items - 26 storage units' worth - were purchased with the money Starbucks claims Heinen embezzled from the company. Included in the haul is a house in Ellensburg and a 47-foot Bayliner boat.
The Murphy auctioneers, who on most days earn a steady commission by hawking the dusty remains of bankrupt businesses - industrial-size kitchen appliances and office furniture - can't wait.
"The draw for an auction like this is that people can bid on something bought illegally," Terry D. Moore, auctioneer, said yesterday as employees around him washed the cars and waxed the antique cabinets. "They can say, `This car was embezzled - it has a shady history.' People really like a story."
The Murphy warehouse, about 10,000 square feet, is stuffed with treasures hauled in by 12 moving vans. Heinen, 52, a Bellevue woman, suffers from a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to her lawyer, and allegedly stole from Starbucks to feed her disorder.
Besides the cars, there are Craftsman tools, two riding lawnmowers, four telescopes, rooms of leather furniture, four 60-inch televisions, eight bicycles, five sets of digital satellite systems and dozens of antique cabinets.
"But that's deceptive," said Stephan Illa, an attorney who represents Rosemary Heinen. "For every automobile, there are five to six pieces of what you and I would call `pieces of crap.' "
That list includes several sets of electric nose-hair clippers, barbecue forks and boxes of unopened B-movies.
Illa said Heinen's disorder led her to start hoarding items. She stacked boxes of Avon jewelry, commemorative memorabilia and clothing - much of it unopened - in piles five to six feet high in her Bellevue home. The merchandise spilled over into hallways, sometimes leaving only a few feet of walking space.
"This isn't a case where somebody stole $3 million and disappeared to Tahiti," said Erik Bauer, a Tacoma attorney who represents Heinen's husband, Jerry. "(Rosemary) spent every nickel that she got."
When Heinen went to work at Starbucks her condition worsened with disastrous consequences, Illa said. Besides her house, Heinen filled at least 26 Bellevue storage units with items.
For about a year, beginning in November 1999, Heinen systematically funneled money from the coffee giant into a fake consulting firm, Starbucks lawyers say.
According to court papers, Heinen forged her supervisor's signature on a consulting-services agreement, which enabled her to draw Starbucks funds to pay RAD Consulting Services, the fictitious business. She allegedly approved more than 100 payments for services never rendered.
In addition to her settlement with Starbucks, King County prosecutors said they could still file criminal charges against Heinen and her husband, Jerry, within the next few months. Jerry Heinen's attorney is trying to extricate his client from any legal entanglement as a result of his wife's actions.
Jerry and Rosemary Heinen have been married for 30 years. Their home has been seized and will also be auctioned off. The couple are still together and live in a small apartment.
"All this stuff is gone," Bauer said. "They are living a simple lifestyle today."