Posted on 12/22/2008 5:27:48 PM PST by BurbankKarl
one-time computer salesman who rose through the ranks to help build Fry's Electronics into a robust national retailer is facing allegations that he defrauded the San Jose-based company out of $65 million, much of which he used to pay off enormous gambling debts in Las Vegas. Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, 42, who goes by "Omar" and has been Fry's vice president of merchandising and operations, appeared in federal court today, where prosecutors filed a complaint that alleges he was involved in a "secret kickback scheme to defraud Fry's Electronics of millions of dollars."
Fry's executives didn't know about the illegal kickbacks, the federal complaint states. The alleged scheme occurred from 2005 until mid-October when a Fry's high-level employee walked into Siddiqui's office in San Jose and saw confidential spreadsheets, letters and extraordinarily high commission amounts on Siddiqui's desk.
Siddiqui is expected to be formally charged in U.S. District Court on Jan. 15, on counts of money-laundering and wire fraud.
According to the complaint, which was unsealed today, Siddiqui convinced Fry's that the company should eliminate sales representatives on his accounts, and instead, he'd act as a middleman between vendors and Fry's. He promised that he'd save Fry's a lot of money that way.
But instead, the complaint alleges, he ended up charging exorbitant commissions - up to 31 percent, or ten times the normal amount - to the vendors, which he funneled to his own "straw" company PC International. Vendors were guaranteed steady business, so Siddiqui would have a steady cash flow to pay off casinos. Siddiqui spent $162 million in three years at just two of his favorites, the MGM Grand Casino and Las Vegas Sands Casino, according to his bank statements detailed in the complaint written by IRS Agent Andres Gonzalez.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
He is Fried
Ausaf Umar Siddiqui
Noe I know why everyone that works in there is a ‘ferner’
I wonder if he made more money on the returns that they tape up and sell at full price?
Them there “ferners” gipped me out of a rebate. They suck!
Sounds like “Pic-N-Save” ,, same kind of fraud ,, they went under because of it..
No doubt. I haven’t been in a Frys in 7 years
Newegg.com all the way baby
Me too! L0L
Wonder if anyone else here has had the same thing happen to them.
Maybe we’re onto something. Class lawsuit. LOL
Frys is great for buying lots of “undocumented chinese stuff cheap”
What really pisses me off, is the way they herd you through cattle chutes.
Nope, couldn’t abide Fry’s
Sadly, They aren’t alone on the rebate BS
www.geocities sucks too
Would you happen to know how one would go about returning a purchase from an online store such as Newegg.com if the item happened to be, say, a 52 inch LCD TV or some other large item?
I guess you have to ship it back.
Everything I have ever bought from them worked as advertised.
Look at their return policy.
Hmm... it appears neweeg also has a restocking fee
No, Newegg.com does not pay the return shipping cost for defective merchandise. We are not responsible for product defects, because we do not manufacture the products we carry. However, if you pay to send the item back to Newegg.com, we will replace the item and ship the replacement to you at no charge. Newegg.com will employ every resource it has to ensure that your item is replaced promptly, without hassle.
From their FAQ
That could be a problem.
The return policy looks decent
When and why are restocking fees applied? How much is deducted when a return is subject to a restocking fee?
There is a restocking fee of 15% on all returns for refund (RMA Refund), unless waived by a Customer Support Agent. We charge this 15% restocking fee for all returns for refund to encourage customers to purchase products they intend to keep. We offer RMA Replacement without any restocking fee to support customers who have received a defective product. For CPU and Memory refunds, any restocking fee we use will be a reflection on current market value for the same cpu item. Newegg.com does not support attempts to profit from CPU and Memory price fluctuations.
I have been trying to submit a product test sample to them for awhile - never could get through to anybody-guess I was not on the list
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