Three New Jersey Men Plead Guilty to Stealing $1.4 Million from New York-Based Defense Contractor

Three New Jersey Men Plead Guilty to Stealing $1.4 Million from New York-Based Defense Contractor 
Employees’ Pensions and Life Insurance Policies Looted

U.S. Attorney’s OfficeApril 02, 2012

District of New Jersey(973) 645-2700

TRENTON—A former insurance agent for a New York-based defense contractor and his two friends today admitted stealing $1.4 million from the company, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Daniel Tumminia, 49, of Millstone, New Jersey; Michael Feuer, 47, of Freehold, New Jersey; and Dennis Mannarino, 45, of Manalapan, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton federal court to informations charging them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Fastener Dimensions (“Fastener”) was a New York-based manufacturer and distributor of aircraft, aerospace, and military components and hardware. Tumminia was an insurance agent for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (“MassMutual”) who represented Fastener and its president as an agent for MassMutual, handling all pension and profit sharing accounts and life insurance policies for Fastener’s employees.

From July 2004 through August 2010, Tumminia and his two friends—Feuer, a practicing attorney from 1990 through 2001 and the owner of Cypress Lawn Care, a landscaping company in New Jersey; and Mannarino, the owner of J&D Italian Specialty Meats, delicatessens located in New Jersey and New York—enriched themselves by diverting life insurance premium payments and pension and profit sharing checks belonging to Fastener’s employees into bank accounts that they controlled. In April 2008, Feuer incorporated and listed himself as the registered agent and officer of MassMutual Contracting Corp., a limited liability company that never performed any services for Fastener or any other clients, but was created by Feuer and Tumminia solely to falsely represent to Fastener that it was the real MassMutual. Feuer and Tumminia deposited $574,279 from Fastener into the MassMutual Contracting Corp. bank account.

Tumminia, Feuer, and Mannarino conducted 133 transactions, including interstate wire transfers, totaling $1,437,542 in deposits into bank accounts that they controlled. They then used the diverted funds for personal expenditures, including ATM cash withdrawals in New Jersey, rent, cable, utility, and grocery bills.

As part of their guilty pleas, Tumminia, Feuer, and Mannarino have agreed to make full restitution for all losses resulting from their crimes to the employees of Fastener Dimensions. Tumminia has agreed to forfeit $1,198,278 to the United States. Feuer has agreed to forfeit $115,963 and Mannarino has agreed to forfeit $10,000.

The conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the pecuniary gain or loss resulting from the conspiracy. The sentencings are scheduled for July 9, 2012.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI working out of the Red Bank resident agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Mendelsohn of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.