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District of New Jersey US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Mitchell E. Green, age 44, of Westport, pleaded guilty Monday, Sept. 18 to one count of wire fraud.
“Though he was supposed to negotiate the best deal possible for his employer, Green set up secret side deals to inflate what his employer paid so that he could reap millions of dollars in kickbacks," Sellingere said.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court from June 2017 through February 2020, Green worked for Sire Spirits, a Hoboken, New Jersey-based liquor company owned by Curtis "50 Cent," Jackson.
Green secretly negotiated side agreements with two French distilleries to pay him kickbacks through his company, Q Branch LLC, for each bottle of champagne and cognac that Sire Spirits purchased from the distilleries, court documents show.
Green caused Sire Spirits to unknowingly pay the cost of his kickbacks by hiding it in the per-bottle price that the distilleries charged for the champagne and cognac. Based on those inflated prices, the company paid $14.8 million for the champagne and cognac, and Green collected $2.19 million in hidden kickbacks, court records said.
The charge of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison and more than $250,000 in fines.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 2024.
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