Michigan man pleads guilty to embezzling from former employer in $1.1M scheme

A Michigan man accused of embezzling funds from a business where he worked as a corporate controller, officials said. 

Jacob Wise, 29, of Riverview, recently pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in a scheme that caused more than $1.1 million in losses to the business, according to U.S. Attorney Jerome Goron Jr. 

At a hearing, prosecutors say Wise admitted to orchestrating a scheme to order and divert the company's funds to bank accounts that he controlled. 

The accounts appeared to be legitimate vendors for the business, prosecutors said. Wise is accused of using the money to make purchases, including a Ford F-150 pickup truck, which investigators seized. 

Wise will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of no more than $250,000 and three years of supervised release, prosecutors said. 

The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations investigated the case.