Former Pitman CFO Sentenced to 56 Months in Prison for Embezzlement

CAMDEN, NJ—August 2, 2011—The former chief financial officer of the New Jersey-based Harold M. Pitman Co. was sentenced to 56 months in prison for embezzling more than $2 million from his former employer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

John Eichner, 50, of Montvale, NJ, previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of income tax evasion before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle, who also imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Eichner embezzled money from the Pitman Co. by falsifying his expense reimbursement forms. Specifically, he submitted numerous requests for reimbursement for personal expenses—including lodging at luxury hotels and resorts; meals at high-end restaurants; and clothing and jewelry from retailers such as Nordstrom, Coach, and Tiffany and Co.

Eichner also caused wire transfers to be sent from Pitman accounts to pay for additional personal expenses he incurred, including a $30,000 wire to pay for cases of wine that he had purchased from Sotheby’s. In all, he fraudulently obtained more than $2 million as a result of the scheme, and purposefully failed to report the illicit proceeds of his scheme to the IRS.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Simandle sentenced Eichner to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $2,349,162 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark; and IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Victor W. Lessoff, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Kelly of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.

The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

Source: Justice.