Former Food52 exec stole a fortune from the company

A former media executive for Food52 who managed production of the brand’s partnership deals stole a whopping $270,000 USD from the company, according to an exposé published in The Cut. (That article is paywalled but you can read a synopsis here.) When you read heartbreaking stories of food writers losing their jobs to layoffs and entire publications shuttering due to budget constraints, this news is enough to make your blood boil.

According to court documents, Muldoon stole at least $270,000 from Food52 from 2021 to 2023. Shortly after Muldoon was promoted to head of Studio52, coworkers noticed a change in her behavior. A former colleague told The Cut that Muldoon “would talk about it, she would wear it, she would tell us about her couch that’s vintage from Italy.” Her extravagant spending, which she put on the company credit card, included over $100,000 on clothes and thousands more on flights.

At first, the spending was somewhat modest and involved traditional company vendors, but Muldoon became emboldened and her coworkers began to suspect something was amiss, especially when Muldoon would appear in Zoom meetings from a beach in Malibu. In 2023, she seemed to sense that the gig was up and requested medical leave. Her new manager saw suspicious discrepancies in Muldoon’s expense reports and elevated them to management. About a year ago, she was indicted in Manhattan for one count of second-degree grand larceny. Muldoon accepted a plea deal that included five years’ probation and restitution.