A Benicia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of wire fraud after scamming his former employer out of more than $3.2 million, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert announced.
Euan David MacGregor, formerly known as David Joseph Bean, 54, used his position as chief administrative officer at a medical company to embezzle funds from his employer from November 2014 to January 2020, prosecutors said.
The company was based in South San Francisco and provided medical laboratory directorship and pathology services to hospitals and clinics, according to court documents.
As part of his scheme, MacGregor created a shell company called Peninsula Pathology, which had a similar name to the one he actually worked for, and he diverted at least 122 checks made payable to his employer into accounts he created under the shell company.
To deceive the company’s president and shareholders, he showed them false financial information “causing them to believe they had received the monies he diverted,” prosecutors said.
MacGregor also told his employer that he was outsourcing their bookkeeping work to a third party, a company named Essential Business Services– another company that MacGregor created and controlled. This meant that he was receiving thousands of dollars each month for bookkeeping services that he never performed.
MacGregor used the money he embezzled to make mortgage payments, pay off credit cards, and for travel and education expenses. He also purchased vehicles.
MacGregor is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2025. He is facing a maximum of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.
