‘Call of Duty’ PR Manager Stole Thousands To Pay For Engagement Preparations
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s launch budget was reportedly raided for about $30,000 by one of the public relations professionals attached to Activision’s account.
Kathryn Kirton was actually the head of PR at Activision’s UK launch of the game when she decided that the money that was targeted for a Hollywood movie style premiere of the game would be better spent on her wedding engagement preparations.
Kirton apparently spent around $15,000 on a pair of shopping sprees, another $3,000 on a luxury hotel getaway for her and her then fiance, $1,500 for a huge bachelorette party, and more than $2,000 for an engagement party.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s launch budget also apparently paid for another member of the PR team’s extravagant spending.
Jamie Kaye helped Kirton use the Activision credit accounts to make some of her purchases and also bought himself and his family a trip.
All of the purchases were claimed as essential to the publicity campaign for the game in the United Kingdom.
The presiding judge on the case seemed to believe that the profession that the two had chosen played a large part in corrupting the pair.
“In the world of PR you are surrounded by luxury items. That is reality for people working in that industry,” Judge John Hillen of Blackfriars Crown Court said.
The judge apparently believed that Kirton had suffered enough for her crimes and ordered a suspended sentence for the now married mother of a two-year old child.
Kirton reported that the court case had adversely affected her marriage and her health during the pregnancy and that the had her child two-months prematurely.
The judge ended up sentencing both Kirton and Kaye to suspended sentences. Kirton’s was an 18-month sentence that was suspended for two years.
Kaye’s sentence was for nine months that translated into a one-year suspended sentence.
This incident isn’t the only odd occurrence surrounding this game series. In January of this year, action in a Call of Dutygame prompted neighbors of those playing the game to call police after they believed a real gun battle had broken out.
