Ex-Calverton apparel mogul pleads guilty to bribing Aeropostale exec
Former Southold resident and Calverton clothing supplier Douglas Dey pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to bribing an executive at the clothing firm Aeropostale in exchange for work as a supplier of materials to the popular clothing chain.
Mr. Dey will also be forfeiting some $7.5 million, in what have been deemed ill-gotten profits, back to the U.S. government as part of the plea deal.
Mr. Dey, who ran South Bay Apparel’s warehouse and the South Bay Sportsplex at EPCAL, as well as a film production company known as Silverwood Fiilms, was indicted in 2010 on 28 counts ranging from wire and mail fraud to money laundering.
He was alleged to have made an agreement with Aeropostale executive Christopher Finazzo, through which Aeropostale purchased $350 million worth of merchandise from South Bay Apparel in the 1990s and 2000s.
Mr. Dey, the government charged, kicked back half his profits to Mr. Finazzo as part of the deal to ensure Mr. Dey’s business stayed with the firm.
Mr. Dey pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn Thursday.
“I understood and intended that sharing the profits would influence him in allowing me to get and to keep the Aeropostale business,” Mr. Dey said as he entered his guilty plea in court, according to Newsday.
“I understand that my arrangements to share the profits with Mr. Finazzo were wrong.”
According to an outline of Thursday’s forfeiture judgement, Mr. Dey will need to pay the United States government $7.5 million. One million dollars must be paid within 30 days of his guilty plea, $1.5 million must be paid on or before his sentencing, $1.5 million dollars must be paid within 60 days of his sentencing and the remainder must be paid in $10,000 monthly installments until it is paid in full.
In partial payment of the judgement, Mr. Dey must turn over the $45,000 balance of his TD Ameritrade account, as well as his half of the proceeds of the sale of his warehouse on David Court in Calverton, roughly $1.6 million. If Mr. Dey sells or obtains a line of credit or mortgage against any of his other real property, that money must also be forfeited to the federal government.
No date has been set for Mr. Dey’s sentencing.
According to court documents, Mr. Finazzo left the company in 2006, having been paid some $14 million in his last eight years with Aeropastale. He was first hired in 1996. His responsibilities with the company included “selecting vendors and merchandise,” an indictment reads.
His trial starts Nov. 12.
The two were both arrested in 2010, at which time they were accused of splitting some $14 million in profits from the scheme.
From October 2011:
FORMER CALVERTON BUSINESSMAN MAN SET TO FACE FEDERAL CHARGES
