Joseph Queri Jr., vice president of real estate at Dick's Sporting Goods, admitted that he covertly took $2 million in kickbacks over seven years in connection with 27 new stores across the country, according to syracuse.com.
In Utica federal court, Queri admitted that from 1999 through 2005,
he took commissions
from developers and landlords involved in the development of stores in
the Northeast, South and Midwest.
As part of each real estate deal, the landlord or developer had to pay
between $10,000 and $150,000 to one of four straw companies that Queri
and a lawyer for Dick's, Benjamin Viloski, set up without the company's
knowledge, according to court papers. A third man, Gary Gosson of
Onondaga, got involved in the kickbacks in 2003.
Gosson, a lifelong friend of Queri's, pleaded guilty last year. Queri
got nearly $2 million in kickbacks, and Gosson got about $100,000,
prosecutors said. Viloski is scheduled to go to trial in April.
Queri faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 when he's sentenced
in July. But if Hurd sentences him to more than 11 years and 3 months in
prison, Queri can withdraw the plea. Under the plea, he agreed to
forfeit $2.1 million in illegal assets.
The article said the guilty plea leaves one defendant in a fraud case that grew out of an insider-trading investigation involving 16 defendants.
