Ex-MillerCoors executive pleads guilty over $8.6 mln embezzlement

By Jonathan Stempel
May 5 (Reuters) - A former MillerCoors marketing executive
has pleaded guilty to helping steal more than $8.6 million from
the beer producer by billing for events and promotions that
never took place.
David Colletti, a vice president who worked for MillerCoors
or its predecessors for 31 years, admitted on Wednesday to one
count of wire fraud in the federal court in Chicago, according
to the defendant's plea agreement.
Prosecutors agreed to seek a nearly 5-1/2-year prison term
if Colletti helped them prosecute seven other defendants who
were charged last May. Federal sentencing
guidelines recommend a roughly eight- to 10-year term.
No sentencing date has been set. MillerCoors is a joint
venture between SABMiller Plc SAB.L and Molson Coors Brewing
Co TAP.N .
Eugene Murphy, a lawyer for Colletti, said his client will
work with prosecutors and try to resolve MillerCoors' civil
fraud lawsuit against him in a Wisconsin state court.
Colletti previously settled a lawsuit accusing MillerCoors
of improperly withholding his pension benefits, Murphy said. The
lawyer spoke in a phone interview on Thursday.
MillerCoors spokesman Jon Stern said of the plea: "It's a
step closer to justice being served in this embezzlement case."
Colletti oversaw the marketing, promotion and sale of beer
by MillerCoors to bars and restaurants.
Prosecutors accused him of having from at least 2003 until
his 2013 firing schemed to bill MillerCoors for events that did
not occur, or at inflated costs.
They said Colletti submitted at least 200 false estimates
and invoices, causing MillerCoors to pay more than $8.65 million
to at least 15 vendors controlled by the other seven defendants.
In exchange, the defendants gave Colletti kickbacks
including cash, money transfers, golf and hunting trips, and
collectible firearms, according to the plea agreement.
The case is U.S. v Colletti, U.S. District Court, Northern
District of Illinois, No. 15-cr-00260.