Ex-Executive Sentenced for Embezzling $28 Million from Mars
Former Mars risk manager Paul Steed was sentenced to more than five years in jail, fined and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling $28 million from his former employer between 2011 and 2023.
Steed was sentenced Jan. 22 by U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley in Bridgeport, Conn., to 63 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for fraud and tax offenses, also paying restitution of $28,410,489 to Mars and $10,310,680 in back taxes to the IRS, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Connecticut.
Steed was arrested on March 26, 2025. Last Sept. 11, he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately 2011 and 2023, Steed was employed by Mars Wrigley and worked remotely from his home in Stamford, Conn. He served in several positions at the company, last as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley’s Global Cocoa Enterprise.
Steed was responsible for managing Mars Wrigley’s participation in USDA’s Sugar-Containing Products Re-Export Program. In approximately 2016, Steed created a company, MCNA LLC, to mimic an actual Mars entity, Mars Chocolate North America. He then diverted more than $15 million in Mars assets to an MCNA bank account he set up, mainly by directing sugar refineries purchasing Mars’ re-export credits obtained through the USDA program.
In 2017, Steed directed Computershare Ltd. to pay MCNA LLC for Mars’ dividends from Mars’ ownership shares in Intercontinental Exchange Inc., a financial services company, diverting another $700,000 in funds. He then directed Computershare to sell Mars’ Intercontinental Exchange shares entirely, netting him more than $11.3 million.
In addition, from 2013 through 2020, Steed used a company he owned called Ibera LLC to invoice Mars for more than $700,000 in services Mars did not receive.
Ultimately, Steed was nailed for failing to pay taxes on his stolen income on his 2014 through 2023 federal tax returns.
In addition to forfeiting more than $18 million from his bank accounts, the government is seeking to liquidate for restitution a Greenwich, Conn., home that Steed purchased with nearly $2.3 million in stolen funds. Steed also sent approximately $2 million to Argentina, where he is a dual citizen, has family ties and has a family ranch.
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.