Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $6 Million From Chemical Company

MINNEAPOLIS, April 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, announced that earlier today a 38-year-old Big Lake, Minn., man pleaded guilty to embezzling $6 million from a Pennsylvania-based chemical company.  Appearing before U.S. District Court Judge James M. Rosenbaum in Minneapolis, Chad Wilfred Jurgens pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection to his crime.  Jurgens was charged via an information on Feb. 26, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Jurgens admitted that between January 2002 and February 2008, he orchestrated a scheme to defraud the chemical company at which he was employed.  During that time, Jurgens worked as a site manager at one of the company's customers in Bloomington, Minn.  Jurgens's job was to manage the sale of chemicals from the chemical company to that customer.

In 2002, Jurgens began misusing his position.  Specifically, he directed that the chemical company buy chemicals to fill non-existent orders.  Jurgens also directed that those purchase orders be filled through a company he set up, VR Services, which was controlled by his friend.  However, VR Services had no chemicals to sell – the transactions were on paper only. 

To further his scheme, Jurgens would order the chemical company to send checks to VR Services for the chemicals supposedly purchased.  Jurgens's friend would then take his cut of that money before remitting the balances to another company controlled by Jurgens, Spence Manufacturing.  Jurgens admitted he made use of interstate wire communications to carry out his scheme.

For his crime, Jurgens faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Judge Rosenbaum will determine his sentence at a future date.

This case is the result of an investigation by the FBI.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Docherty.

This law enforcement action is in part sponsored by the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  It includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources.  The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

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