Ex-Supermarket Executive Pleads Guilty to Foundation Fraud

A former top official with the British supermarket chain Asda admitted in court Wednesday to steering some $263,000 from the company’s charity fund to benefit a ballet troupe headed by his partner, reports The Guardian. Paul Kelly, who was the firm’s vice president for corporate affairs, pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud at a court in Leeds and faces jail time when he is sentenced next month.

Mr. Kelly, who also served as a government adviser on food and alcohol policy and an ambassador for a charity headed by Prince Charles, left Asda in September 2014 after an internal investigation. He was accused of diverting Asda Foundation funds intended to aid flood victims to the arts organization led by dancer David Murley in 2013 and ’14 and of lying about the misappropriation. The troupe, the Murley Dance Company, has not been accused of knowing the contributions were illicit.