Charges: Minnesota oil executive stole more than $930K from his employer
A former oil executive in Minnesota is accused of stealing nearly $1 million from his employer over a six-year period.
Gregg William Johnson, 58, of Apple Valley, was charged Friday, Feb. 19, in federal court in St. Paul with one count of wire fraud in connection to a scheme to steal more than $930,000 from Chemstar Products Co.
According to the criminal complaint, from February 2014-July 2020, Johnson used his position as the chief financial officer of Chemstar Products to defraud the Minneapolis-based company, which specializes in products that assist in the oil drilling process.
Prosecutors allege Johnson converted company funds to himself by issuing checks from Chemstar Products' bank accounts for his own personal expenses, including credit card bills, personal insurance payments, mortgage payments and home renovations at his three different properties.
Johnson hid this scheme in various ways, the charges say, including falsifying the company president's signature, falsifying invoices, logging false expenditures and using different programs than the one the company used to issue checks.