Former Plainfield Township Supervisor Fremarek pleads guilty in nearly $1.4 million fraud scheme

Former Plainfield Township Supervisor Tony Fremarek has pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud his company of almost $1.4 million, apparently to pay off credit card bills.

A plea agreement filed Monday outlines the case against Fremarek, including his misrepresentation at one point to partners in the company that one of its bank accounts had been closed while taking money that continued to go into the account for his own use.

Fremarek resigned as township supervisor in the middle of a reelection bid in March 2021, three months after he had been indicted and amid calls for him to step down.

The allegations involve a private company in which Fremarek was a partner and chief financial officer. No allegations were made concerning township funds.

Plainfield Township Supervisor Al Tinsley, who waged a write-in campaign to replace Fremarek, said Tuesday that the township has conducted multiple audits to ensure there was no fraudulent use of its funds.

“We passed all the audits with flying colors,” Tinsley said. “I want to let the public know that they can be assured that the township is now in good hands.”

Fremarek is to be sentenced on Feb. 23.

The plea agreement outlines a scheme in which Fremarek began defrauding his company in April 2013, about four months after becoming its chief financial officer.

Fremarek also was elected township supervisor in April 2013, after having served four years as a township trustee.

His company is identified in court documents only as Company A and described as “a privately held information-technology firm” based in Schaumburg. According to Fremarek’s LinkedIn page, he had worked at PSC Group in Schaumburg from 2003 to 2019.

The fraud at the company continued until March 2019, according to the plea agreement.

Fremarek admitted to taking $1,370,165 from the company by moving money from bank accounts to his personal credit card accounts.

As chief financial officer, Fremarek was responsible for financial management, prepared financial statements and had access to accounts the company held at three banks in Cook County suburbs. The banks are not named in the plea agreement but are identified as being located in Schaumburg, Rosemont and Bridgeview.

He overstated company assets and falsely inflated the liquidity of the business in documents provided to the banks, according to the agreement. Fremarek also made false entries into the company’s accounting records to disguise payments to himself as legitimate expenses.

The plea agreement points out one specific instance on Aug. 27, 2018, in which Fremarek made a $47,576 payment to his American Express account from one of the company bank accounts. In October of that year, Fremarek informed his partners that the account had been closed.

But company customers continued to make payments into the account, which Fremarek used for himself, according to the plea agreement.

The federal wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, which, however, is significantly reduced based on a sentencing formula. Fremarek also can be ordered to make full restitution of the stolen money.

According to the plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence ranging from 41 to 51 months. Fremarek’s attorney is recommending a sentence of between 27 and 33 months.

His attorney, Vincent D. Pinelli, did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman will determine the prison sentence and the amount of restitution to be paid.