Former Williams-Sonoma Executive Admits $16M Fraud Scheme

BAY AREA, CA — A former Williams-Sonoma executive admitted pocketing millions of dollars in kickbacks and helping divert real estate commissions in schemes that caused more than $16 million in losses, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Eric Marsiglia, 52, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, pleaded guilty in federal court to two wire fraud conspiracy charges and one money laundering conspiracy charge, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

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Marsiglia served as Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s vice president of engineering, projects, planning, facilities, and real estate while the schemes operated from about 2018 through 2022, prosecutors said. His position gave him authority over vendor contracts and responsibility for warehouse leasing, steel racking purchases, forklifts, and other warehouse logistics services.

Beginning in 2018, Marsiglia accepted kickbacks in exchange for steering Williams-Sonoma business to three New Jersey companies that supplied forklifts, warehouse racking systems, and machinery, according to his plea agreement.

Marsiglia created a shell company called REM Group to receive and conceal the payments, prosecutors said. He ultimately collected more than $12.2 million in warehouse-related kickbacks without disclosing the payments to Williams-Sonoma.

Marsiglia also participated in a second scheme from 2020 through 2022 that diverted real estate broker commissions connected to Williams-Sonoma warehouses, prosecutors said.

He directed the commission payments into REM Group accounts and distributed portions of the money to himself and his co-conspirators, according to prosecutors. The payments should have gone to the brokerage firm entitled to receive them.

That scheme misappropriated more than $4.1 million in broker commissions.

Marsiglia also admitted conspiring to launder proceeds from the fraud by conducting financial transactions intended to conceal the money's nature, source, ownership, and control, prosecutors said.

A federal grand jury indicted Marsiglia in April 2023 alongside Kourosh Mirmehdi, Augusto Alizo, and Michael Podhurst on charges stemming from the kickback and commission schemes. Prosecutors later charged Domenick Nardone in a superseding indictment in March 2024.

All defendants charged in the indictment have pleaded guilty to federal offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Seeborg is scheduled to sentence Marsiglia on Nov. 3.

Marsiglia faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each wire fraud conspiracy count. The money laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

The maximum penalties do not determine Marsiglia's eventual sentence. Seeborg will consider federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors before imposing a sentence.

The IRS Criminal Investigation division investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christiaan Highsmith and Ben Wolinsky are prosecuting it with assistance from Elizabeth Kim.