NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) -- A husband-and-wife team each have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.
Heidi Walker, 47, a former Managing Director of AIG Global Investment Group and Deutsche Asset Management and her ex-husband, Peter Pfabe, 52, entered their pleas March 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The two - who were married at the time - conspired together to defraud Deutsche Asset Management and AIG Global Investment.
When Walker was an executive with Deutsche Asset Management and Pfabe was an executive for an asset management division of another large bank, DAM was being billed from a company called Saint Andrews Marketing, Inc. for various services. The invoices were addressed to present and former DAM employees. But it was Walker who always authorized payment.
Saint Andrews Marketing was a sham company established by Pfabe.
After Pfabe left his job in 2003, DAM received two invoices from Greenwich Marketing Associates. The invoices - for $75,000 and $50,000 - were for conferences purportedly held and sponsored by GMA. Walker authorized payment.
Like Saint Andrews Marketing, GMA was a sham company established by Pfabe.
When Walker joined AIG Global Investment in 2006, this company now started being billed from GMA for items "editing services for investment commentary" and a "Client Investment Management Survey." Once again, payment was authorized by Walker for of all the invoices.
According to the DOJ, Deutsche Asset Management and AIG Global Investment paid Saint Andrews Marketing and GMA hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of several years.
Walker and Pfabe hid from DAM and AIG the true nature and ownership of the companies. The checks the companies received were deposited in accounts that the couple had opened. Money from those accounts were used for personal expenses and expenses related to the couple's horse farm, Field Pointe Farm, in Salt Point, New York.
They each face maximum sentences of five years in prison. They are also required to pay restitution to the victims and a fine of $200,000.