Former OU Board of Regents member and Pelco Structural manufacturing executive Phil Albert was sentenced to 30 months in prison by a federal judge on Monday.
Albert resigned in January 2022 from the OU Board of Regents amid litigation involving fraud and embezzlement allegations from Pelco Structural, a Claremore-based steel pole manufacturer he co-founded.
Appointed to the Board of Regents in 2016 by former Gov. Mary Fallin, Albert served on the finance committee for Pelco Structural and was slated to become the chairman before his resignation.
In April 2019, Albert resigned from Pelco and later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in November 2019. Pelco filed a countersuit, alleging that Albert embezzled $7.4 million in company funds between 2010 and 2019.
A year ago, Albert pleaded guilty to tax evasion and admitted to evading an estimated $1 million in federal taxes from 2014 to 2019. He faced up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Don Eagleton Jr., former Pelco accountant and controller, accused Albert of fraud in a federal plea deal in November 2022 after he “became aware that Albert was engaged in a scheme and artifice to defraud Pelco Structural and its owners by embezzling money from the company” from 2016 until Albert left the company in 2019.
NonDoc reported Eagleton approved large reimbursement checks that were often recorded as: “Cost of Sales-Steel.”
In August 2022, federal prosecutors filed their case against Eagleton and he pled guilty to misprision of a felony that September.
As reported by NonDoc, Judge Terence Kern heard statements in the Monday hearing from current Pelco CEO Steve Parduhn and Vice President Kasey Scott. Parduhn and Scott both requested the maximum five-year sentence. Federal prosecutors requested a 36-month sentence.
Albert’s attorney, Paul DeMuro, argued that Albert, 64, should be spared prison time because of health complications from diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, according to NonDoc.
Kern sentenced Albert to serve 30 months in prison with one year of supervision after release, according to NonDoc. Albert was instructed to surrender at a federal facility in Missouri on May 8. He was also ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution split between Pelco and the IRS.
This story was edited by Peggy Dodd and Anusha Fathepure. Sophie Hemker and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
