![]() One bank account was owned by the other man, while another by his family member, according to the affidavit.Luxury bedding and home goods brand draws on its more than 110 years of expertise to introduce a new generation of comfort to the tiniest members of every family In an interview with law enforcement, the account holder - an attorney licensed in Idaho - said he is a real estate attorney representing one of the men and that the funds from the man “were for legitimate business purposes and held in his lawyer trust account,” the affidavit read. One bank account received $700,000 traceable to the wire fraud scheme. After the deposits, the money had been transferred to “various other bank accounts and individuals.” When the task force officer asked the bank to freeze the account to prevent loss and transfer of the stolen funds, just $538.02 remained in the account. ![]() Investigation showed the people “are real individuals and not false identities,” the affidavit read. Morgan Chase account.īank records showed the account was opened in March 2021, and was held in the name of a holding company registered in Delaware and listing two men as members, according to the affidavit. FOLLOWING THE MONEYĪ Cottage Grove police detective and a Homeland Security Investigations task force officer applied for and received a state search warrant under seal for the J.P. “At this point the city of Cottage Grove staff realized they had fallen victim to a wire fraud scam,” the affidavit read.Ĭottage Police Chief Peter Koerner said Friday he could not comment because the investigation is still active.Ī call to Jeff Geislinger was not returned Friday. The finance director responded that the accounting specialist had been corresponding through email with Jeff Geislinger, but the office manager said Geislinger had been in Florida for the past several weeks. 22, when the office manager at Geislinger and Sons contacted the finance director to ask why they had not received the second and third payments. The city became aware something was wrong on Dec. Morgan Chase) account had they not believed it to be a legitimate business account,” the affidavit read. “The city of Cottage Grove would not have sent either of these payments to the (J.P. Another electronic funds transfer form arrived in an email, the accounting specialist updated the information and, by mid-December, two wire transactions were made totaling $1,276,061.33. In November, the imposter emailed again and said they would again be sending new bank information, this time under a J.P. The accounting specialist replied that the company’s payment information would be updated and the second payment of $813,250.35 would be released the following week. It read that “Geislinger & Sons” had made “company financial changes” and moved all of its banking to PNC Bank and asked to “kindly update your vendor profile in your payment system immediately to ensure timely payment of invoices.”Ī follow-up email from the imposter included an electronic funds transfer form with the new banking information. 13.įive days later, an unknown person sent the accounting specialist an email pretending to be the company’s president by using a “lookalike” internet domain name The email included a signature that read, “Jeff Geislinger, President/CEO, Geislinger & Sons.” However, as the affidavit notes, the added “inc.com” was unlike the original email from the office manager.Ī day after the first fake email, another arrived in the accounting specialist’s inbox. The accounting specialist set up an automatic payment of $489,746.61 on Oct. 11 through an email sent to the office manager with an address that ended in “.” The next day, the company emailed a tax form and an electronic funds transfer form with banking information so the city could make payments. Jeff Geislinger, president of the Watkins, Minn.-based company, signed the contract.Ĭottage Grove’s accounting specialist’s first correspondence with the company was Oct. ![]() The city entered into a $3.5 million agreement with Geislinger and Sons for the “South District Sanitary Sewer Project” in June 2021. Magistrate Judge John Docherty approved the warrants this month to seize up to $852,337.55 that allegedly is linked to the fraud and held in six bank accounts. Attorney’s Office spokesperson said Friday that “the government will be seeking forfeiture of the funds.”
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