STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 5, 2002
PITTSBURGH -- Barry J. Chesla, a former investor in an armored car company, allegedly pilfered millions of dollars meant for ATMs and bought real estate with the stolen cash, according to federal investigators.
According to the Pittsburgh Post, FBI agents raided Chesla's home and office. The U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh filed a series of civil complaints in U.S. District Court to seize 10 properties owned by Chesla and his wife, Amy, in Western Pennsylvania and three other states, including three branch offices that New Jersey-based Tri-State Armored Services Inc. leases from the Cheslas.
Tri-State itself, which supplies cash for 3,000 ATMs on the East Coast, is not under investigation.
The federal warrant from the raid and the affidavit supporting it are sealed. But according to forfeiture documents, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating the Cheslas for allegedly stealing money from Tri-State starting in 1996 and then using it to make nearly $2 million in real estate purchases.
No criminal charges have been filed by the FBI and the couple has not been indicted. Court papers, however, indicate the Cheslas could eventually be charged with bank fraud, income tax evasion, money laundering, filing false tax returns and evading the reporting of currency transactions.
Civil forfeiture filings are often the first step in federal criminal proceedings involving assets that have been obtained through illegal means. By moving for seizure, the U.S. Attorney's office has essentially frozen the properties, ensuring that the Cheslas can't sell them.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Leon Rodriguez would not reveal how much money authorities believe was stolen and transferred into the Cheslas' personal accounts, saying only that the amount is "in the single-digit millions."
Chesla is no longer a shareholder in Tri-State.
