Former Westchester Business Director Pleads Guilty In Multi-Million Dollar Embezzlement Scheme

You know it's one thing when you have a local district attorney's writing up and issuing a press release about a crime that someone or multiple committed, but it's an entirely different thing when the U.S. District Attorney's Office is writing up a release.

That's exactly the scenario we have today as it was just recently announced by the U.S. District Attorney's Office out of the Southern District of New York that a Pennsylvania man with a high ranking position at a Westchester County family business has plead guilty in a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme.

Family Business Background

The announcement of the guilt plea as well as details of the scheme and subsequent punishment for the suspect at the center of it all was detailed in the press release from the U.S. District Attorney's Office on October 10, 2024.

According to the release the suspect identified as 34-year old John Hickey of Feasterville-Trevose, PA, was the controller and Director of Quality Assurance for a family-owned business located in Armonk, part of the town of North Castle in Westchester County.

The family owned a group of victim corporations which manufactured flame retardant fabrics and Hickey also held minority ownership interest in some of the corporations. He had began working at the corporations while attending college and around 2012 he was named Director of Quality Assurance.

Embezzlement Details

The scheme reportedly started back in February of 2018 and carried on till November of 2023. During that time frame, Hickey embezzled more than $3.4 million dollars from the victim corporations ($3,461,292.69 total). According to the release, Hickey created false invoices that appeared to be from entities with which the victim corporations did business.

From there Hickey would then forge signatures that "supposedly" approved payment of those invoices and caused the victims' accounting system to print checks payable to him in the amount of the invoices.

Once the checks were printed Hickey then would change the payee on each one so that way it would match the name on the invoices which for the time being covered his tracks. Hickey would then "sign" the checks with usage of a rubber signature stamp.

Hickey then would use the ill-gotten proceeds to gamble on and attend sporting events, attend concerts, improve upon and repair his home and of course, just like many others who have implemented similar schemes, he took vacations.

Guilty Plea Punishment

Officially Hickey plead guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. How long Hickey's sentence will actually be has not yet been determined.

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The announcement also drew reaction from U.S. District Attorney Damian Williams who stated that Hickey exploited his position for his own personal gain. In addition, Williams also stated that...

...Today’s guilty plea holds Hickey accountable for his illegal conduct and demonstrates our unwavering commitment to pursuing justice for victims of fraud.

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The press release concluded with Williams praising the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

The press release did not state when the next time Hickey will be in court.