Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Brian Keller is vice president of AI and data science for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. In this role, Brian is responsible for driving AI strategy and execution for the insurance business, with a focus on workforce education, team enablement, and project execution that translates research and development into customer-facing capabilities.
Brian joined LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2022 as part of the acquisition of Flyreel, where he led the software engineering and AI teams. During his tenure, Brian has developed and deployed AI and computer vision solutions, including aerial imagery and ground-level interior and exterior analysis, as well as 3D scene reconstruction for claims and underwriting use cases. He has also led the development of generative AI capabilities, including transcription, summarization, question answering, and agentic automation.
Brian holds a PhD in systems and industrial engineering and a master's degree in systems engineering from the University of Arizona, along with a bachelor's degree with majors in physics and business from the University of Mount Union.
Adam Barbera is the CEO and founder of Dost, a native-AI finance automation platform built for the way finance teams actually work. After years selling enterprise software to CFOs, he saw the same broken accounts payable processes repeated in every company he visited, and decided to fix it himself. He founded Dost in 2021 with two colleagues and closed a $7.8 million Series A in late 2025.
Kyle Jeziorski is managing director at Founder Shield. Kyle is the market-facing and client leader at Founder Shield. Before Founder Shield, Kyle worked at Marsh on the FINPRO team, focusing on management liability in the large private and public space. A graduate of Saint Joseph's University's Risk Management and Insurance Program, Kyle has focused his entire career helping clients navigate through an ever-changing risk environment.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
