Stamford Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Mars Candy Company Out Of $28M: Feds

STAMFORD, CT — A Stamford man pleaded guilty last week to fraud and tax offenses after, prosecutors say, he stole more than $28 million from his former employer, Mars, Inc.

Paul R. Steed, 58, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to two counts of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison on each count, and one count of tax evasion, an offense that carries a maximum term of five years, according to David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Additionally, Steed has agreed to pay restitution of $28,410,489 to Mars, Inc., and the government has calculated that he owes the IRS an additional $10,310,680 in back taxes, Sullivan said in a news release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately 2011 and 2023, Steed was employed by Mars Wrigley, a subsidiary of Mars. Inc., working remotely from his home in Stamford.

Steed served in several positions at the company, last serving as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley’s Global Cocoa Enterprise. As part of his employment, Steed was responsible for managing Mars Wrigley’s participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Sugar-Containing Products Re-Export Program.

In approximately 2016, Steed created a company, MCNA LLC, to mimic an actual Mars entity, Mars Chocolate North America, Sullivan said. He then diverted more than $15 million in Mars assets to a bank account he set up in MCNA’s name by directing sugar refineries purchasing Mars’s re-export credits, obtained through the USDA program, to pay MCNA LLC as if it were a legitimate Mars entity, Sullivan noted.

Mars had an ownership interest in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), a financial services company that operated financial exchanges and clearing houses, and received quarterly dividends in connection with that ownership.

In 2017, Steed directed Computershare Limited, a company that ICE utilized for stock-related services, to pay MCNA LLC for Mars’s dividends from its ownership shares in ICE, according to Sullivan. As a result, Sullivan noted more than $700,000 in dividend payments were diverted to the MCNA LLC account.

In 2023, after Steed had used a fraudulent letter purportedly from the Mars treasurer authorizing him to trade ICE shares, Steed directed Computershare to sell Mars’s ICE shares entirely, Sullivan said, noting that Computershare issued a check in the amount of more than $11.3 million, which Steed deposited into the MCNA LLC account.

In addition, from 2013 through 2020, Steed used a company he owned called Ibera LLC to invoice Mars for services Mars did not receive, Sullivan said. Mars paid Ibera LLC more than $700,000 through this scheme.

Sullivan said Steed failed to report and pay taxes on his stolen income on his 2014 through 2023 federal tax returns.

The government has seized, and Steed has agreed to forfeit, more than $18 million from his bank accounts, and the government is seeking to forfeit, or alternatively liquidate for restitution, a Greenwich home that Steed purchased with nearly $2.3 million in stolen funds, Sullivan said.

Another $2 million was sent by Steed to Argentina, where he is a dual citizen, has family ties, and owns a ranch, Sullivan explained.

Steed was arrested on March 26, and he is released on a $5 million bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 9.