A Laguna Niguel man has been indicted by a Seattle grand jury on counts of wire fraud, accused of embezzling close to $1 million from his former employer, Algas-SDI, a Kent, Washington-based energy manufacturing company. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington released details of the indictment, naming Paul Joseph Welch, 43, as the IT manager-turned-alleged fraudster. The indictment states that between 2017 and 2024, Welch engaged in multiple unauthorized transactions totaling upwards of $950,000.
The press release from the attorney’s office highlights a pattern of deceit, where Welch, starting as early as 2017, purportedly began using the company's Amazon business account to make personal purchases. These purchases were obfuscated as business expenses and included electronics such as televisions and laptops. The trust vested in Welch to manage key aspects of the company's IT infrastructure was leveraged to clandestinely swipe nearly $43,000 through the online retail behemoth alone. It is alleged that in 2019, Welch saw fit to further extend his scheme by misusing his company credit card for personal acquisitions across various other retailers.
Investigators claim that Welch's fraudulent activities crescendoed with him siphoning off hefty sums by masquerading payments to himself as legitimate business expenses for IT equipment and services. The defendant is accused of creating email addresses and payment processors under a business name strikingly similar to that of a legitimate computer services vendor. This alleged ruse resulted in around $879,175 being redirected into Welch's personal accounts. According to the indictment, Welch's deceptions included the production of phony invoices, aiming to cloak his illicit actions under the facade of legitimate business transactions with the Washington State-based computer services company—a company that purportedly never provided services nor equipment to Algas-SDI.
Despite Algas-SDI's several attempts to verify the veracity of Welch's financial activities, he is alleged to have consistently provided false or misleading covers. When directly confronted with the suspect expenses in January 2024, Welch maintained the veneer of innocence, assuring Algas-SDI that the transactions were genuine, which led to his termination following the dissent. The FBI's subsequent investigation uncovered a minimum of 250 fraudulent charges tying back to Welch, the indictment details. The total company loss, inclusive of transaction fees, amounted to an estimated $982,520.
Wire fraud carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine. As Welch awaits arraignment, scheduled for April 17, it's worth noting that the charges in the indictment remain allegations; Welch is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dane A. Westermeyer, as stated in the U.S. Attorney's Office's statement.
