NEW YORK, Nov 21, 2008 (AFP) - A former executive of a company working with fashion giant Tommy Hilfiger was sentenced Friday to more than five years prison for embezzling 19 million dollars.

Tommy Hilfiger fall-winter 2008/2009

Martin Bodner, 60, worked for seven years at Tommy Hilfiger Handbags and Small Leather Goods, a US licensee of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, and rose to the position of chief financial officer.

He was sentenced to 66 months prison after being found guilty of mail fraud and wire fraud in September, the US attorney's office for New York said.

He was ordered to pay back more than 17.3 million dollars and to forfeit property including cars and a Manhattan apartment.

While at the handbags company he amassed 19.09 million dollars by filing phoney expenses, secretly boosting his salary, fraudulently adding one of his sons to the payroll, and bankrolling his spending spree with company checks.

Before being caught he had purchased three Manhattan apartments, a house and luxury cars, prosecutors said.