Former HD employee pleads guilty

Industrial Distribution staff -- Industrial Distribution, 7/1/2008 11:22:00 AM

A former Home Depot employee has pleaded guilty to charges that he ran a kickback scam that the United States Department of Justice says defrauded HD out of millions of dollars.

The Department of Justice said June 30 that Anthony Tesvich of Atlanta took payments from suppliers seeking to do business with Home Depot, and then paid out more than $2.5 million of that to other Home Depot employees.

"This defendant has now admitted to taking millions of dollars in secret payoffs from Home Depot's vendors and not reporting or paying taxes on that corrupt income," United States Attorney David Nahmias said in a statement.

Tesvich, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of tax evasion.

According to Nahmias and information presented in court, Tesvich plotted to defraud Home Depot from October 2002 through October 2007. Tesvich took financial kickbacks from foreign suppliers and vendors to insure those vendors' products would be sold in Home Depot stores.

After Tesvich left the company, he gave cash payments to co-conspirator employees at Home Depot, totaling more than $2.5 million, according to the plea agreement. Tesvich also pleaded guilty to evading federal taxes from 2003 to 2005.

He will be sentenced on Sept. 2. Tesvich could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge, and a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on the tax evasion charges.