The owner of a New Jersey-based steel drum wholesaler admitted he conned a Maryland-based manufacturer out of nearly $20 million, federal authorities said.
Anthony P. Urcioli, Sr., 78, of Park Ridge, conspired with an employee of a New York company to produce bogus invoices for more drums than his Tunnel, Barrel & Drum Co, Inc. had delivered to the company’s facility in Harford County, MD, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron said.
Urcioli, who’s TBD’s owner and president, split the excess funds he received with the employee — who, in turn, gave 25% to a co-worker, Barron said.
The employee contacted Urcioli at least once a week over the course of a year to discuss the number and type of drums that he actually wanted to deliver, as well as how many to hold back, the U.S. attorney said.
Urcioli created the phony invoices, which the employee approved and sent to his company’s headquarters to be paid, Barron said.
To kick back the money without anything appearing sketchy, he said, Urcioli and the two employees agreed to write checks in the names of two shell companies.
They eventually expanded the fraud to a second drum supply company that Urcioli owned, Hartford Fibre Drum, Inc., the U.S. attorney said.
Over the course of the scam, Urcioli falsely invoiced the victim company a total of $20,300,757, Barron said.
TBD and Hartford kept half that amount — $10,150,378 — while the remaining funds were sent to the two crooked employees,…
