Wal-Mart?s Coughlin to Plead Guilty
by January 16, 2006 12:00 am 79 views
Thomas Coughlin, the former vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has agreed to plead guilty later this month to federal wire-fraud and tax-evasion charges, according to a Jan. 7 story in The Wall Street Journal.
The article, based on anonymous sources, stated that Coughlin would plead guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion.
The deal came after several months of negotiations between prosecutors and Coughlin’s lawyers, who persuaded prosecutors not to pursue money-laundering charges, which would have increased his sentence.
Federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory but followed by most judges, call for a sentence of at least two years in prison, according to the article.
Coughlin has claimed that he was reimbursing himself for a secret scheme to fund an antiunion spy operation. But federal prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas have found no evidence of that.
When contacted by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, Bob Balfe, the U.S. Attorney in Fort Smith who was investigating Coughlin, said, “I just can’t comment.”
Wal-Mart also said Coughlin’s claim wasn’t true.
According to a chronology provided by Wal-Mart, Coughlin was caught after asking an underling for $5,100 in company gift cards, supposedly to reward superior performance by employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Instead, Wal-Mart has claimed, Coughlin used the gift cards himself at Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club outlets to buy three shotguns and a variety of other items.
The parties have agreed that the amount of the loss is more than $350,000, The Wall Street Journal reported.
All of the transactions occurred before November 2001.
On Nov. 7, Robert E. Hey Jr., a former vice president of operations development for Wal-Mart, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith. His case appeared to be related to Coughlin’s. Hey’s indictment frequently referred to a senior executive identified only as “John Doe” that Hey allegedly assisted in a scheme to defraud the company. Hey reported to Coughlin at Wal-Mart.