A former associate director of Global Maritime Service group was sentenced to 27 months in prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company and failing to pay federal payroll taxes.
David Buckingham, 38, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to a superseding information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to collect, account for, and pay over federal payroll taxes.
Judge Hayden imposed the sentence in Newark federal court.
According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Buckingham held the title of associate director and head of the New York office of a global maritime service group headquartered in London, England.
From 2016 through 2018, Buckingham used his position and access to the company’s bank accounts to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars by writing checks to himself or to “cash.”
Buckingham falsified the company’s books and records in an effort to make the payments appear to be legitimate business expenses and to cover up his fraud.
From February 2016 to October 2018, Buckingham also willfully failed to account for and pay over to the IRS payroll taxes for the employees of the company in the amount of $277,051.
In addition to the prison term, Buckingham was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $356,725 and forfeiture in the amount of $356,725.
Global Maritime is a marine, offshore and engineering consultancy that specializes in marine warranty, dynamic positioning, and engineering services.
Founded in 1979, and majority-owned by Private Equity Fund HitecVision, Global Maritime’s services span the entire offshore project lifecycle from engineering & design, construction and third-party verification through to marine warranty surveying, dynamic positioning, installation, risk management, and decommissioning.
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