Ex-Outback analyst pleads guilty in conspiracy

A former analyst for Outback Steakhouse pleaded guilty in federal court this morning to participating in a conspiracy to steal $1.9 million from the restaurant chain.

Jeremy David Schweickert, 29, is the first of three former Outback employees expected to be prosecuted in the scheme that involved false invoices and shell bank accounts, according to Schweickert's plea agreement.

Once the scheme was discovered, the conspirators gathered as much money as they could, giving it to Mark T. Watson, who hoped to make a deal with Outback for repayment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Riedel told U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara. Watson's attorney has control of a bank account with $900,000.

Schweickert's take in the scheme was $212,368, Riedel said.

Defense attorney Paul Sisco said his client has $39,000 to give to Outback. Combined with the amount he gave to Watson, Schweickert has accounted for all of the money he stole.

Schweickert told Lazzara he spent $17,000, paying off $9,000 in credit cards and $2,000 on a car loan, as well as buying clothes.

Lazzara asked Schweickert, who has two bachelor's degrees, why he would risk everything.

"I didn't want to let the person I was working for down," Schweickert said. "I liked him."

He said he was referring to Owen R. Galvin, who is described in Schweickert's plea agreement as the former director of fixed assets for Outback's subsidiary real estate holding company, Private Restaurant Partners. Schweickert was an analyst in Outback's treasury department; Watson was the department supervisor.

Riedel said Galvin "will either shortly agree to plead guilty or be indicted." The government is negotiating with Watson, she said.

In an e-mail, Outback Executive Vice President Joseph Kadow said he could not comment on the ongoing prosecution, except to thank the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office.

Schweickert said he has a new job, and his current employer is unaware of the charges. Asked about this by the judge, Schweickert said he was asked only if he ever had been convicted of a crime. He said that when he was asked why he left OSI, he stated he had been terminated.

According to his plea agreement, Schweickert created a phony company called Valuation Research Consulting in August 2009 and opened a bank account for the company. At the direction of his coconspirators, he took a legitimate invoice for a legitimate company called Valuation Resource Consultants and altered it to read Valuation Research Consulting.

He used the altered invoice to generate three bogus invoices from Valuation Research
Consulting totaling $144,396. He had the money wired to the bank account he created.

Schweickert also created false backup documents for another phony invoice created by his coconspirators.

When the scheme came to light in March, Schweickert immediately admitted his guilt and waited for the government to complete its investigation, Riedel said.

Sisco said Schweickert met repeatedly with investigators: "He's been cooperating fully."

Sisco said Schweickert had an adjudication of guilt withheld in a third-degree grand theft case in 2000 and the case later was sealed. As part of the case, Schweickert underwent court-ordered drug treatment.

Schweickert told Lazzara he previously used marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine, and has been treated for depression and social anxiety.