A Plainville contractor has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $3.3 million from hundreds of his employees through phony administrators' fees on their pension plans.
Federal prosecutors say 62-year-old Lee Ferguson, of Farmington, who owned Ferguson Electric and Ferguson Mechanical, deducted from $1.60 to $3.15 per hour from each employee's benefits packages under the guise of "third-party administrative fees."
The fees went to TPA of Connecticut, a company Ferguson established and controlled. TPA of Connecticut, in turn, sent the money to DJS Associates, a company that Ferguson formed for the purported purpose of performing business-consulting services, but which did no such thing.
Authorities say Ferguson stole from more than 300 employees from 2013 until 2017. He resigned as CEO and president on April 1 and relinquished all of his interests in the companies, according to a statement released Wednesday.
“The crime that I pled guilty to today is the result of my actions, and mine alone. I take full and complete responsibility. At no time did anyone else at my former companies participate in or was aware of my actions or motives. I deeply regret any pain that this has caused my former employees and my family," Ferguson said in the statement.
He faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Oct. 24.
