A Stratford man received an eight-year prison sentence after his conviction of embezzling $2.5 million from his employer Expand International of America.
Steven DeCecco, 52, pleaded guilty last November to multiple federal counts of wire fraud and transporting stolen property across state lines. His co-conspirator Jamie Hoff awaits sentencing after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last October.
Prosecutors said DeCecco and Hoff directed hundreds of unauthorized wire transfers from Expand International”™s bank accounts to their own control, with DeCecco using much of the funds to purchase classic cars. DeCecco was chief comptroller of Expand International of America, while Hoff performed accounts payable and bank reconciliation duties.
FIRST FUNDING ENTERS PLEA
First Funding Corp., an investment bank in Stamford, pleaded guilty to aiding in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return.
Prosecutors said the company”™s sole shareholder Charles S. Jones used a First Funding Corp. credit card to charge expenses he incurred in his duties as a board member of a Canadian-based company. Those expenses were paid by First Funding Corp. and recorded by a bookkeeper as expenses on its books, even as the Canadian company received a request for reimbursement from Jones”™ office. When the requests were paid, Jones directed his assistant to deposit the reimbursement checks into his personal accounts.
Jones agreed to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $400,000, and the company faces a maximum penalty of five years”™ probation and a fine of up to $500,000.
JUDGE RULES VERTRUE WAS DECPETIVE
An Iowa state judge ruled Vertrue Inc. used deceptive practices over two decades in marketing buying club memberships to nearly 500,000 residents there, recording $36 million in revenue during that period.
Along with Affinion Inc. and Webloyalty Inc., Vertrue has been the subject of an inquiry by the U.S. Senate commerce committee chaired by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. All three companies are based in Norwalk.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller sued Vertrue under the state”™s Consumer Fraud Act and Buying Club Law, and a trial was held in late October and early November last year. Judge Robert Hutchison ruled Vertrue and its subsidiary companies Adaptive Marketing LL.C. and Idaptive Marketing L.L.C. were liable for consumer fraud.
“We filed the lawsuit because consumers consistently told us they didn”™t even know they were members,” Miller said, in a prepared statement. “We alleged Vertrue”™s illegal sales practices resulted in a vast number of Iowans”™ credit cards being charged, sometimes repeatedly, for memberships most of the Iowans didn”™t even know they had and never used.”
Miller added the state will seek restitution and penalties, without specifying a dollar figure.
