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Richard Winter, 53, of Pompton Lakes authorized bank wire transfers from some of them, pocketed vendor payments to others and issued checks payable to cash that he then deposited into his own bank accounts, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said.
Winter serviced the clients' accounts payable through a company he created called Back Office Pro, a complaint on file in federal court in Newark says.
In addition to the restaurants he had accounts with liquor stores and a real estate business in New Jersey, it says.
One of the victim companies lost $225,280.73 that Winter embezzled through 39 bogus bank-to-bank wire transactions into his own account, the complaint says.
All told, Winter embezzled $909,555 from all of the businesses, it says. He was charged with failing to include the income on his federal tax returns for four years, beginning in 2016, Sellinger said.
Rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial, Winter took a deal from the government, pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion in exchange for leniency.
Part of the agreement includes the seizure by the government of any property or possessions traceable to the crimes.
Sellinger credited the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, both in Newark, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea, which was secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shontae D. Gray of his Economic Crimes Unit.
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas scheduled sentencing for July 9 in Newark.
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