Sales Executive Pleads Guilty in Kickback Scheme
The top sales executive of a telephone equipment distributor has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with a kickback scheme, authorities said Tuesday.
William Sobieski, 48, of Mission Viejo entered the plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. Judge Gary Taylor ordered Sobieski to return Sept. 21 for sentencing. He could receive a maximum of 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
Sobieski was a vice president in charge of national sales and marketing for Great Technologies Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area firm selling telephone equipment as a licensee for Pactel Products.
He was charged with having told officials of an independent sales firm, Sweeney & White in Minnesota, that he would protect them from losing a key account if they would pay him 25% of their commissions, Assistant U.S. Atty. Elana Artson said. Sweeney & White sent two checks totaling about $3,500 to a corporation operated out of Sobieski’s home, and alerted authorities.
FBI agents arrested Sobieski on May 18. He is now free on his own recognizance.
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