Domenick Nardone, CFO of industrial equipment manufacturer Raymond of New Jersey, was in Oakland, California, federal court last week facing charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.
Court documents allege Nardone made some type of deal with Eric Marsiglia, an executive at home-goods retailer Williams Sonoma. The deal involved an exchange of contracts for cash sent to a shell company, REM Group LLC, held by Marsiglia, to receive and hide kickback payments. Marsiglia was Williams Sonoma’s vice president of engineering, projects, planning, facilities and real estate, and was responsible for finding commercial real estate opportunities for the company.
Michael Podhurst, a vice president at Raymond of New Jersey, was also involved in the agreements and had already pleaded guilty to his involvement in the case last year in June. It was found that Podhurst helped legitimize the contracts and received compensation taken from the $12 million of cash Nardone paid to Marsiglia’s shell company.
In total, Nardone and Podhurst were a part of $48 million in contracts between multiple companies operated by Nardone, all in the manufacturing, warehouse, and equipment space, including Raymond of New Jersey.
“Williams Sonoma is a Bay Area institution, and the defendants charged in this case are accused of taking advantage of their positions to defraud that venerable company out of millions of dollars over several years,” said United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey in a press release.
Marsiglia is also accused of a second scheme unrelated to Nardone. In this scheme, Marsiglia allegedly funneled broker fees due to Williams Sonoma related to real estate contract negotiations with third parties. These fees were delivered to the same REM Group shell company used in the scheme with Nardone and Raymond of New Jersey.
Investigators believe that between both schemes, REM Group received nearly $20 million in kickback cash between 2018 and 2022.
“Greed can easily overtake one’s ability to be content. Mr. Nardone abused his position as the chief financial officer and conspired with others to secure favorable contracts only to end up in court,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley.
“IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to unravel the truth and bring these selfish acts to light. We value our partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of California as we press forward with charging those who entangled themselves in this multi-million-dollar kickback scheme.”