Ex-Glock attorney accused of stealing

Business

February 21, 2012

Vice president of firearms company has pleaded guilty

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press Tue Feb 21, 2012, 07:17 AM EST

ATLANTA — The vice president of Glock Inc. confessed nine years ago to the company's founder that he and another top lieutenant had been stealing millions from the gun maker, later telling investigators there was so much cash flying around that it seemed like "Monopoly money." The executive, Peter Manown, was sentenced to 10 years probation after pleading guilty to theft and is now set to be the government's star witness against the man he says was his accomplice, one-time Glock attorney Paul Jannuzzo.

Jannuzzo is set to go to trial Tuesday on theft and racketeering charges.

Jannuzzo's trial threatens to expose new details about the dirty underbelly of the privately-held international firearms manufacturer, which bases its U.S. headquarters in the quiet west Atlanta suburb of Smyrna. In a 2007 interview with investigators, Manown details internal tension among executives and claimed he was able to exploit loose financial practices at the gunmaker, which makes millions selling firearms to law enforcement agencies across the globe.

Jannuzzo has pleaded not guilty. His attorney Robert Citronberg didn't return calls seeking comment.

A former New Jersey prosecutor, Jannuzzo was hired by Glock in 1991 to be the company's general counsel.

Manown, an attorney from Dunwoody, Ga., said the two began working together to plunder the company.

"It was so easy," he told investigators. "There was so much money flying around in this company, in this industry. It was like Monopoly money."

In 2007, Manown pleaded guilty to three counts of theft.

Manown said greed led he and Jannuzzo to take the money.

About a year later, Cobb County prosecutors charged Jannuzzo with stealing money by forging Gaston Glock's signature, fabricating loan documents and pilfering corporate funds. They say he funneled the money through an elaborate network of foreign bank accounts and company holdings. All told, the two are accused of stealing more than $5 million from the company and its holdings, according to court records.

Manown said in the interview he stored most of the money in an offshore bank account, but that he's not sure what Jannuzzo did with his money.

Jannuzzo was initially set to go to trial in October 2009 but fled to Mexico, according to court records, and didn't return until federal agents tracked him down in Amsterdam. He was extradited to Georgia in May, and he's been in jail since. If convicted of all counts, he could face decades in prison.

Three other men linked to Glock are awaiting trial on charges of stealing from the firm in a separate case. James Harper, a former federal prosecutor hired by Glock to investigate fraud, and two members of his investigative team were charged with stealing about $3 million from the gunmaker. They have pleaded not guilty, and Harper has said the allegations were a misguided attempt by Glock to discredit him.