A man from Missouri has pleaded guilty to embezzling company funds to pay for a life of luxury, including online and casino gambling.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman prosecuted the case against Justin R. Marquardt from Nevada in Vernon County, Missouri, after a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigations.
Missouri man pleads guilty to embezzlement
Marquardt had been working for his employer in an executive director role, with access to the company’s records, financial accounts, and reports, for more than two decades.
Justin R. Marquardt (Nevada, MO) pleaded guilty to fraud scheme in which he embezzled approx. $1.5 million from his employer and failing to disclose the embezzled funds as income on tax returns. https://t.co/noYlTxloU2 @FBIKansasCity @IRS_CI
— U.S. Attorney WDMO (@USAO_WDMO) August 27, 2025
From 1994 to 2023, Marquardt would go on to embezzle $1.5 million from his employer in a litany of unrecorded and unregistered transfers. His guilty plea, presented before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays, effectively sealed his involvement in one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.
He faces “a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole on the wire fraud count and up to 3 years’ imprisonment on the filing a false tax return count,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Marquardt’s misdeeds funded a life of luxury
The investigative report from the IRS and FBI showed that Marquardt was not adhering to the United States’ strict income tax reporting rules.
According to the report, the Missouri man submitted reports for years “2017 – 2020 and 2023, Marquardt filed United States federal income tax returns on Forms 1040 in which he willfully failed to report his embezzled income.”
He used his employer’s accounts to ferry funds to his personal bank accounts, and wrote unauthorized cheques in the name of business accounts linked to his employer’s holdings.
None of the transactions from the company’s QuickBooks ledger were reported and were instead hidden under different expenses by Marquardt. This was intended to conceal his actions and mislead a company tax preparer and accountant.
These personal expenses included luxury items, travel, and a plethora of online and in-person casino gambling with the gains made from the embezzlement.
Marquardt will now await a sentencing hearing date after a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
The IRS and the FBI are dedicated to shutting down embezzlement to fund gambling and have been active throughout 2025. As we reported, an Arizona CEO embezzled millions to fuel a gambling habit earlier this month (August 2025).
He was reported to have benefited from an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan to the tune of $2.4 million. For nearly a decade, he had skimmed the funds to go on big game hunting trips, pay a significant other, and spent “a significant sum” while gambling.
Featured image: Ideogram
