Green Bay businessman allegedly defrauded Scott Walker’s WEDC to the tune of $1.12 million

http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/warrants-allege-green-bay-businessman-defrauded-wedc-for-more-than/article_be226c3c-a30c-5d5a-b801-702d70b16199.html target=_blank>This is very definitely Scott Walker’s Wisconsin…

A Green Bay businessman is under criminal investigation for allegedly defrauding the state’s job creation agency of more than $1 million, according to search warrants obtained by the State Journal.

Ron Van Den Heuvel has not been charged with a crime, but he is suspected of committing theft and securities fraud against several parties, including the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., according to six search warrants the Brown County Sheriff’s Office executed at Van Den Heuvel’s home and businesses in De Pere and Ashwaubenon in July.

The warrants state that WEDC, which is funded mostly with taxpayer dollars, “was a potential victim of fraudulent representation made by Van Den Heuvel.” They provide the first confirmation that law enforcement officials are investigating a company for allegedly misrepresenting itself to WEDC.

WEDC loaned $1.12 million to Green Box NA on Oct. 21, 2011, according to agency records. The funds were supposed to help the company create 116 jobs by December 2014 as part of a more than $13 million project to turn fast food wrappers and other waste paper into synthetic fuel and paper products while producing zero waste.

Within days, according to the warrants, “a substantial portion” of the loan amount was transferred to bank accounts for other business entities and used to pay Van Den Heuvel’s personal and business debts unrelated to Green Box.

Share:

Related Articles

3 thoughts on “Green Bay businessman allegedly defrauded Scott Walker’s WEDC to the tune of $1.12 million

  1. Let’s all join in celebrating the upcoming fourth year (10/21/2011-10/21/215) anniversary of the Walker/ WEDC’s $1.12 million “donation” to their good GOP “friend” Ron Van den Heuvel.

    Please pass the pate foie gras. Waiter,more Champagne!

    1. Interesting “it’s a small world” wrinkle here…

      One of the many, many outstanding debts Van Den Heuvel failed to disclose (and WEDC inexcusably failed to uncover thru a simple CCAP search) prior to getting his WEDC cash was an $81k judgement owed to Schenck SC:
      http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;?caseNo=2009CV001527&countyNo=44

      Schenck SC was the outside auditing firm for WEDC until it came out in the LAB Audit 13-7 that Schenck was also representing at least one company that got a WEDC award.
      So, a few questions…
      – Did Schenck ever disclose this relationship with Van Den Heuvel to WEDC? They would have had 2 chances to do this — during their initial time as auditor, and when the auditing contract was re-bid in 2013.
      – In the course of auditing WEDC, did Schenck note that an award had been made to GreenBox/Van Den Heuvel? Would they have been under any obligation at that point to disclose that Van Den Heuvel had bad debt with them and was therefore a high-risk award?
      – Schenck had an interest in getting paid, so they would have potentially benefited from WEDC awarding funds to Van Den Heuvel if he used it to pay his debt to Schenck. (Similarly, it would benefit Schenck if WEDC went easy on terms/collection, giving Schenck more time to collect before the whole thing came crashing down.) Did Schenck have any communication with WEDC about GreenBox/Van Den Heuvel? Or did they in any way encourage Van Den Heuvel to pursue a WEDC award?

      1. Some good questions, and in light of the ongoing and continually unfolding chain of corruption and cronyism pervading the Walker Administration, not at all far fetched. The rot plaguing the current Wisconsin State Government gets deeper and deeper with each unveiling of another (usually interrelated) scandal. It is absolutely pervasive at this point, and it sure doesn’t look like the mainstream media are going to follow up on any of it, making it unlikely anybody in power will do anything about it.

Comments are closed.