Podlucky: Revenge, not 'raw greed,' his motivation
The attorney for Gregory Podlucky told a federal judge on Friday that his client was motivated not by "raw greed" but by revenge when he bilked financial institutions out of $856 million while he was CEO of LeNature's Inc.
Attorney Alexander Lindsay asked Judge Alan Bloch to sentence Podlucky to "significantly" less than the 20 years in prison he faces next week when he is sentenced for an extensive fraud that led to the collapse of the Latrobe beverage and bottling company.
Lindsay said Podlucky "was motivated by something other than raw greed" and is "deeply sorry for his actions."
Podlucky, 51, personally begged the judge for mercy in an emotional letter, saying justice would be better served if he performed community service rather than stay in prison past retirement age.
Podlucky wrote that God had humbled him "so He could transform me into a new person. ... My life has been changed."
Federal prosecutors said Podlucky, a former CPA, was the architect of a colossal fraud in which he siphoned $37 million in loans that he spent on precious gems, jewelry, toy trains and expensive cars.
Podlucky, three other executives, a former employee and a business associate were indicted by a grand jury in 2009 on charges of bank, wire and mail fraud. Podlucky was indicted separately for tax fraud and was indicted a third time last year for money laundering, along with his wife, Karla, and son Jesse. He pleaded guilty to the charges in June.
Podlucky asked the judge for lenience.
"Could there be a better solution to sentencing than just throwing people into jail and letting the taxpayers foot the bill?" he wrote. "Could we devise a program that allows those who pose no real threat to society to contribute?"
Podlucky cited the 2001 death of his 16-year-old daughter in a car accident as the catalyst for the scheme in which he portrayed the failing company as a successful enterprise. Podlucky claimed that after his daughter's death, he was denied a leave of absence by the investors, who sued him and later filed legal action that resulted in his ouster as CEO.
"I systematically decided to make certain individuals my victims for retribution," he wrote. "I realized that nothing could bring back my daughter. I understood for the first time after I was deposed as CEO that all this scheming was ungodly. I should not have taken matters into my own hands. I should have trusted the Lord to be my vengeance."
Podlucky created two shell corporations under his late daughter's name to funnel company funds to purchase land and build a mansion in Ligonier Township that he claimed was a training center for LeNature's employees.
"This change in my life did not come about through a so-called 'jailhouse' conversion but through a genuine repentance," he wrote. "I have no desire to pursue earthly things. All I desire is to serve others."
Podlucky told Bloch that he wants to create Operation New Butter, a food bank for wounded veterans.
"Judge Bloch, you can think I am just trying to avert incarceration, but I have determined that the path of least resistance for me is to go to prison and waste away ..." he wrote.
Bloch also received letters from Podlucky's wife and sons Jared and Jordon, who attend college in California. Lindsay asked that Podlucky serve his sentence at the federal prison in Lompoc, Calif., so his sons could visit him.
