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On Thursday, a former MillerCoors marketing executive who had pleaded guilty to defrauding the company out of nearly $8.7 million over more than a decade, was sentenced. And the court was unforgiving.
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David Colletti, 60, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2016.
“But his sentencing was delayed while federal prosecutors pursued cases against seven others charged in the scheme,” which according to the Chicago Tribune, “took place from 2003 to 2013.”
A longtime MillerCoors employee, Colletti was the mastermind behind an elaborate operation to bill the company for promotional events that “did not occur as billed or at inflated costs,” according to his plea agreement.
Colletti, who was promoted to Vice President of National Accounts and On-Premise (bars and restaurants that sell beer) “recruited accomplices to submit false estimates and invoices for marketing services, in some cases creating companies solely for that purpose.”
According to the Chicago Sun Times Colletti who “spent 31 years working his way up to a vice president job at MillerCoors,” filed “at least 200 phony estimates and invoices for promotional events that didn’t occur as described, or that cost less than billed.”
Former MillerCoors colleagues who testified during the proceedings, said that the now disgraced Colletti portrayed himself as “the ultimate company man,” touting values like “respect” and “integrity,” while he bilked the company out of “more than $8.6 million during a decade-long scam uncovered roughly four years ago.”
At the proceedings Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Levin explained that even though Colletti had offered “very substantial cooperation” in the investigation, she still saw his actions as “the ultimate betrayal” and asked for a sentence of 64 months.
Colletti, who was finally sentenced to 48 months in prison by US District Judge Jorge Alonso, expressed remorse for his crime…
“My life is changed,” Colletti said. “It’s changed forever.”
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BARROOM BRAWL ERUPTS OVER BEER COOZIE
