Daniel S. Martin, a former Kellogg's food broker; Wayne A. Dick, a former buyer for the 57-store Demoulas chain; Robert Stella, a former salesman for Campbell's Soup; Robert McCarthy, a food broker for Advantage ESM; and Linda Dempski, a teller at Fleet Bank, were charged.
The defendants allegedly stole about $1.75 million through a series of schemes involving over-billing for advertising funds and generating false invoices. They are charged with mail fraud, receiving stolen funds, unauthorized bank transactions and subscribing to false tax returns.
Moderator Comment: Is it common practice for retailers to seek maximum coop dollars from vendors even when sales goals have not been met and maximum media dollars have not been spent?
Roughly 25 years ago when we were starting out in an ad agency, we remember a prospective client telling us that manufacturers expected retailers to bill more for coop funds than had actually been purchased. We also remember being eliminated from the account review when we responded that we didn't phony up a second set of invoices to submit to vendors. [George Anderson - Moderator]