Five Charged in $1.75 Million Theft from Demoulas
U.S. Attorney General Michael J. Sullivan, the FBI and the IRS, charged five people with various crimes related to the theft of checks from the Demoulas Market Basket chain, Tewksbury, Mass., and from the chain’s vendors, reports SupermarketNews.com.
Daniel S. Martin, a former Kellogg’s food broker; Wayne A. Dick, a former buyer for the 57-store Demoulas chain; Robert Stella, a former salesman for Campbell’s Soup; Robert McCarthy, a food broker for Advantage ESM; and Linda Dempski, a teller at Fleet Bank, were charged.
The defendants allegedly stole about $1.75 million through a series of schemes involving over-billing for advertising funds and generating false invoices. They are charged with mail fraud, receiving stolen funds, unauthorized bank transactions and subscribing to false tax returns.
Moderator Comment: Is it common practice for retailers to seek maximum coop dollars from vendors even when sales goals have not been met and maximum media dollars have not been spent?
Roughly 25 years ago when we were starting out in an
ad agency, we remember a prospective client telling us that manufacturers expected
retailers to bill more for coop funds than had actually been purchased. We also
remember being eliminated from the account review when we responded that we
didn’t phony up a second set of invoices to submit to vendors. [George
Anderson – Moderator]