Chevy Chase Executive Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $330K From Trade Organization

CHEVY CHASE, MD — A Chevy Chase man pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $330,000 from a trade organization as part of a wire fraud charge brought against him, according to federal prosecutors.

As part of the plea agreement, Graham Hauck, 50, president and CEO of Hauck & Associates, must pay full restitution to the trade organization and will also be liable for a forfeiture money judgment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras, who accepted Hauck’s guilty plea, scheduled sentencing for Sept 14. The wire fraud charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

In a statement, Hauck's attorney, David Benowitz, said his client "chose to accept responsibility for this unfortunate chain of events."

Hauck "has already repaid the money at issue in full and is preparing to move forward with the next chapter in his life," Benowitz said.

Hauck & Associates Inc., a trade association management firm based in Washington, D.C., was hired by a nonprofit trade group to serve as its management company.

In 2019, the trade group agreed to pay Hauck & Associates an annual management and headquarters fee of $148,475, with one-twelfth of the fee, or $12,372, being billed on the first day of each month, according to court records. From March 2019 through about October 2019, Hauck stole roughly $336,222 from the trade group, federal prosecutors said.

“Although H&A was authorized to pay itself the monthly management fee from one of the organization’s bank accounts, Hauck wrote checks and initiated ACH payments from that account to H&A in amounts far exceeding what the organization owed,” the attorney’s office said in a news release Wednesday.

Hauck also stole from one of the trade organization's other accounts by writing a $100,000 check to H&A and conducting three automated clearing house transfers from the account, according to federal prosecutors.

According to court documents, Hauck concealed his scheme both by lying to one of his employees who noticed the trade group’s unusual activity and by creating inaccurate balance sheets that were presented monthly to the trade group’s board of directors.

“The false balance sheets showed more money than the organization actually had in its accounts,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.