SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Florida man is accused of scamming his Georgia-based employer out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by creating fake invoices and skimming from the top, federal prosecutors in Georgia claim.
They say John Laakso was an engineering manager with Savannah-based GAF Material Corporation and is charged with four counts of wire fraud.
As part of his job, he would procure equipment and other services for the company's facility in Savannah.
But using that power, Laakso would create fake people and companies which he would award contracts from GAF, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia say.
However, those fraudulent contracts — which totaled $1.3 million — were inflated, prosecutors say, and Laakso would then hire a separate contractor who would provide the services at a lower cost.
Then, with the leftover money, he would use those funds "for his own use and enjoyment," the indictment said.
“This indictment alleges a scheme in which an employee betrayed the trust of an employer for self-enrichment at the employer’s expense,” U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg said in a press release. “We commend the work of our law enforcement partners in unraveling this fraudulent operation.”
They say Laasko conducted this fraudulent scheme between 2021 to 2023 before the company and law enforcement realized the fraud.
All told, the prosecutor says Laakso scammed the company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to the press release, Laakso also was known as John Larson and John Trebesch.
If convicted, Laakso would face up to 20 years in prison on each charge along with substantial fines. He would also owe thousands in restitution to his former employer.