A former Williams-Sonoma executive pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal fraud and money laundering conspiracies after admitting he took more than $12 million in kickbacks and helped divert over $4 million in real estate commissions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Eric Marsiglia, 52, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to three conspiracy charges: wire fraud, wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.
Marsiglia worked as Williams-Sonoma Inc.’s vice president of engineering, projects, planning, facilities and real estate from about 2018 through 2022. He had authority to enter vendor contracts and was responsible for overseeing the selection and leasing of warehouse space as well as the purchase of steel racking, forklifts and other warehouse services, according to federal prosecutors,
Starting in 2018, Marsiglia accepted kickbacks from co-conspirators in exchange for directing the San Francisco-based business to three New Jersey companies that supplied warehouse equipment and services, according to his plea agreement.
Marsiglia admitted to creating a shell company called REM Group to receive and hide the payments. He said he received at least $12.2 million in warehouse kickbacks that he concealed from Williams-Sonoma.
From 2020 through 2022, Marsiglia was also part of a scheme to divert real estate broker commissions tied to Williams-Sonoma warehouses. He directed the payments to accounts controlled by REM Group and distributed portions of the money to himself and co-conspirators, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
That scheme resulted in the misappropriation of at least $4.1 million in broker commissions, according to the plea agreement.
Marsiglia also admitted conspiring to launder proceeds from the fraud scheme through financial transactions designed to conceal the nature, source, ownership and control of the money.
A federal grand jury indicted Marsiglia and three other defendants in April 2023 in connection with the schemes. Another co-conspirator was charged in a superseding indictment in March 2024.
All defendants charged in the indictment have pleaded guilty to federal offenses.
Marsiglia will be sentenced on Nov. 3. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each wire fraud conspiracy count and up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for the money laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors said.