A former marketing executive has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $6 million from two companies where he worked, reports AdvisorHub.
61-year-old Michael J. Collins entered the plea in New York State Supreme Court to one count each of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.
The charges cover the period from March 2016 and April 2024. Prosecutors said Collins first stole nearly $5 million while employed as the Chief Marketing Officer of a financial education company, identified in the report as the CFA Institute. In 2022, he left that company without the theft being detected and later became Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer for an education-technology company, where he stole nearly $1 million.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said Collins used the same scheme at both companies.
“He created and controlled two fictitious marketing consulting companies, Quattro Quadrati LLC and Regiondrivers LLC, which he incorporated in New York,” Bragg said. “To make them appear legitimate, he obtained multiple email addresses, phone numbers, websites, and bank accounts for each. Collins then used his position as a marketing executive to purportedly hire Quattro Quadrati and Regiondrivers as marketing vendors and consultants and submitted invoices for non-existent work which his employers paid. He submitted 144 fraudulent invoices to the financial education company and five invoices to the education-technology company. “
Collins hid the theft by creating presidents and employees of the Quattro Quadrati and Regiondrivers and registered email accounts to those names, investigators learned. He corresponded with those fictitious email addresses and forwarded those conversations to other employees at his workplaces, in some instances forwarding invoices for payment as well. He also asked the service he used to incorporate Quattro Quadrati and Regiondrivers if his identity could be “shielded or masked from anyone looking at the two entities through online services or research.”
Prosecutors said Collins transferred funds from the fictitious companies’ bank accounts directly to his personal bank accounts and used the stolen funds for executive club memberships, luxury brands, fine dining, and extensive travel and lodging, including over 150 flight tickets. He also used the funds to pay for a $150,000 engagement ring from a boutique jewelry store purchased directly from a Quattro Quadrati bank account.
“Michael Collins exploited these companies for his own personal gain<‘ said Bragg. “He took millions for himself and made extravagant purchases, including luxury items and international travel. Our businesses and marketplaces cannot function properly when this type of fraud occurs, and we will continue to root out such brazen schemes.”
Collins is expected to be sentenced on June 22 to 3-9 years in prison with judgement orders for the victim companies.
Seth Zuckerman, a lawyer for Collins, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the plea.
The CFA Institute was not identified in the indictment, but the group acknowledged it was a victim in the case.
“CFA Institute assisted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in its investigation that led to this guilty plea,” the institute said Wednesday in a statement. “Our former employee committed a crime against CFA Institute, and we thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for pursuing justice in this matter. In the years preceding and since the incident, we have significantly strengthened our financial and internal controls to help protect our organization against potential future misconduct.”
Hyman Cotter routinely represents investors harmed when financial professionals and their firms engaged in misconduct that caused their clients investment losses. Our team includes lawyers who have worked for large financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, and regulatory bodies such as the SEC. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter at (833) 665-0784 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
