A Pennsylvania man who was the former manager of a Morgantown construction company pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and money laundering after admitting to unlawfully diverting $3.5 million in company funds for his own personal benefit, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced this week.
Michael D. Allen, 60, of Irwin, Pa., was formerly the manager of ABB Construction, LLC, which did business in Morgantown as Accelerated Construction Services (ACS). Allen is represented by defense attorney Lance E. Rollo, Esq. while Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.
According to court documents, Allen was hired to manage the “ordinary day-to-day construction operations of ABB Construction, LLC.”
For business purposes, ACS held bank accounts at United Bank which were used for depositing business receipts and payment of business expenses.
Allen personally held a bank account at BB&T which was titled to him doing business as Accelerated Construction Management (ACM).
“From in or around May 2014 to in or around October 2020, [Allen] deposited, and caused another person to deposit, check payments from customers of ACS into the BB&T bank account of ACM,” court documents said. The amount of the checks deposited totaled approximately $2,100,000.
“From in or around May 2018 to in or around August 2019, [Allen] directed, and caused another person to direct, customers of ACS to wire payments to the BB&T bank account of ACM,” court documents continued. The wired payments totaled approximately $1,400,000, bringing the total funds diverted to the ACM account to approximately $3,500,000.
Allen also sent a wire transfer of $113,250 to a jeweler in Pittsburgh for the purchase of a 5.19-carat diamond ring which he had shipped to Morgantown. According to U.S. Code, by doing so he knowingly engaged in a monetary transaction to a financial institution, affecting interstate commerce, using funds obtained through unlawful activity.
Allen is now awaiting sentencing where he faces up to 30 years in prison in addition to being required to pay back the $3.5 million stolen from the construction company.
“When someone abuses a position of trust for personal financial gain, it can be crippling to individuals and to businesses,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld in a Nov. 7 press release. “Because of this, we will continue to be aggressive in our pursuit of white-collar criminals like Mr. Allen.”
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