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Biden’s Record Pardons Included a Former Beverage Company CEO

Dec. 18, 2024
Gregory Podlucky, founder of Le-Nature's Inc. in Latrobe, Pa., was among nine convicted in 2011 for bilking investors of $628 million via a company with $40 million in sales.

President Joe Biden’s pardon of 1,498 criminals last week included the former CEO of a Pittsburgh-area beverage company, who was convicted of what at the time was the largest financial fraud in Western Pennsylvania.

Gregory Podlucky, founder of Le-Nature's Inc. in Latrobe, Pa., was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2011 after pleading guilty to mail fraud, money laundering and tax evasion in a case that involved hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Biden gave no reason for commuting any of the sentences.

Prosecutors said the company reported gross sales of $287 million in 2005, $247 million of which was fabricated. Investors and lenders lost $628 million in the fraud. The company, which made iced tea and fruit-flavored drinks and waters, went bankrupt in 2006.

The beverage company presented fake books and false audits to repeatedly obtain nine-figure loans, millions of dollars of which went to Podlucky for a 24,000-sq.-ft. castle – one of the Pittsburgh area’s largest private homes – as well as jewels, gold, watches and model trains, according to the Pittsburgh newspaper.

A year later, Podlucky’s wife got a four-year prison term for money laundering and their son, G. Jesse Podlucky, was sentenced to nine years for money laundering and conspiracy. Both were found guilty of crimes associated with the sale of $2.9 million in diamonds and sapphires and transfers of ill-gotten assets among shell companies, according to the Post-Gazette.

Podlucky’s brother Jonathan was also convicted, as were four others associated with the company.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.

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