After an investigation by the FBI, a former employee of Spectrum Brands and Applica Consumer Products Inc., a company purchased by Spectrum, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for wire fraud.
Brad Volkmann of Pewaukee worked as a sales representative for Spectrum between January 2005 and January 2014, during which time he devised a scheme to defraud both companies by embezzling funds from a fund that was created to pay legitimate business expenses and causing Spectrum to overpay for services by emailing inflated invoices to Spectrum Brands.
Volkmann was also ordered to pay $325,000 in restitution to the company, of which he paid $250,000 prior to sentencing.
