Former Milwaukee Advertising Executive Pleads Guilty To Fraud: DOJ

MILWAUKEE, WI — The former chief financial officer of a Milwaukee advertising agency pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Vicki Berka, who worked for Bader Rutter & Associates, admitted to running a scheme from 2014 to 2017 to embezzle around $2.7 million, federal prosecutors said. Berka bought a beach condo in North Carolina with more than $250,000 in stolen money, according to a news release from United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Richard G. Frohling.

When sentencing comes the 61-year-old Hartford woman could a maximum of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and 10 years for the money laundering charge.

Prosecutors said Berka used her position and her bank account credentials to make transfers from the company's health funding account to her own account. To hide her embezzlements she then falsified the company's ledger by inflating healthcare costs, according to federal prosecutors.

In the plea agreement, Berka agreed to $2.7 million in restitution to Bader Rutter, prosecutors said.

Her sentencing before Judge JP Stadtmueller is set for Dec. 1.