The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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A Topeka couple pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges in the embezzlement of more than $2.6 million from Vektek, an Emporia company that manufactures hydraulic and pneumatic clamps.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Monday that James W. Foremsky, 62, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and his wife, Susan Foremsky, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact to wire fraud.

The Foremskys entered their pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson in Topeka. The couple, whose trial was scheduled to begin in two weeks, will be sentenced June 29.

The maximum sentences James Foremsky could face would be 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Maximum sentences for Susan Foremsky would be half of that, or 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

At the plea hearing, James Foremsky, then Susan Foremsky, admitted to Robinson they committed the crimes recited by senior litigation counsel Richard Hathaway as the factual basis for their pleas.

James Foremsky was Vektek’s chief financial officer from June 1995 until Nov. 8, 2007, where he had control of all of the company’s finances, including check-writing authority for business-related expenditures.

His annual salary was $87,000 to $90,000 when he was fired on Nov. 8, 2007, for “performance issues” unrelated to the thefts, according to court records.

In court, Hathaway said Vektek’s losses included:

• $403,500 from 2001 to 2006 on checks from a company account called Expansion Properties. The 44 checks were signed by James Foremsky and deposited into his savings and checking accounts.

• $1,025,052 in Vektek checks marked “void” from August 2004 to November 2007 but which had cleared the bank.

• $780,948 in 76 wire payments from a Vektek bank account to Foremsky’s four personal American Express credit card accounts between August 2002 and November 2005.

• $420,000 in 10 Vektek checks deposited in Foremsky’s personal Bank of America savings account and checking account between August 2006 and September 2007.

• $17,055 in two Vektek checks to pay two other Foremsky credit cards.

The embezzlements totaled $2,646,555

In court, Hathaway said Susan Foremsky was aware of what was going on, and she wrote more than 90 percent of the checks that benefited the couple.

Originally the Foremskys were indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2008 on one count of conspiracy to commit crimes that include bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

But a superceding indictment charged Susan Foremsky with the accessory charge, which is a less serious offense.

Court records said the Foremskys used the funds for expensive vacations, bar tabs, meals at restaurants, clothing purchases, buying vehicles, retiring debt on their home and maintaining and showing jumping horses.