RACINE, Wis., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a plea agreement with John C. Burch, a former broker who worked for Wachovia Securities in Kenosha, Wis. A plea agreement is a voluntary agreement to plead guilty to a criminal offense.
“We are pleased that this agreement has been reached and the case against Mr. Morris continues to progress,” said David Hecker, General Counsel for SC Johnson.
Burch admitted to laundering cash for Milton Morris, SC Johnson’s former transportation executive, as part of bribery and racketeering activity. As part of the plea agreement, Burch admitted that, over the course of several years, he opened multiple checking accounts at local banks for the purpose of depositing cash given to him by Morris.
Burch then transferred the funds from these various checking accounts through a variety of transactions involving other accounts, which resulted in the transfer of approximately $370,000 of those funds into Morris’ Wachovia account.
Burch also acknowledges that he made false statements to federal officials and the government asserts that Burch should make restitution to SC Johnson for the amount transferred to Morris’ Wachovia account.
On Oct. 18, 2004, SC Johnson terminated Morris and filed a lawsuit alleging that he had engaged in a long-running kickback scheme involving some of the transportation vendors for SC Johnson.
“SC Johnson appreciates and acknowledges the work of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service in reaching this plea agreement with Mr. Burch. SC Johnson will continue to pursue all wrongdoing associated with this kickback scheme involving Mr. Morris and others,” Hecker said.
