Former executive of Mars candy subsidiary charged with stealing $28 million from company

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Before his arrest Wednesday, Paul Steed was a respected sugar market expert for a subsidiary of famed candymaker Mars Inc. He served on a U.S. trade advisory committee for sweeteners as well as on industry group boards, while giving presentations at conferences.

Now Steed, of Stamford, Connecticut, is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $28 million from Mars since about 2013 through various schemes, including diverting funds to companies he set up. He is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion.

Steed, 58, a dual U.S. and Argentine citizen, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was ordered detained pending trial. A U.S. magistrate judge said Steed was a flight risk and noted that while the government has seized $18 million of the allegedly pilfered funds, several million dollars remain unaccounted for and Steed has strong connections to family in Argentina.

Steed’s lawyer, federal public defender Phoebe Bodurtha, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.

His wife, Martina Steed, told The Associated Press in a brief phone call that she did not know all the facts of the case and declined further comment.

Mars Inc. said in a statement that the case involves “the action of a single individual who sought to exploit the organization for personal gain.”

“We fully cooperated with law enforcement to see this matter quickly brought to justice and always remain committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and integrity in all our operations,” it added.

Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley, according to federal prosecutors. The company is a subsidiary of McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc., the maker of M&M’s, Snickers, Skittles, Altoids mints and Doublemint gum, as well as other food products and pet food.

Steed and his wife appeared to be living beyond their means, according to the judge’s order authorizing his pretrial detention.

Steed’s annual salary was about $200,000 while his wife was making $40,000 to $50,000 a year as a hair stylist, Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti said in the order. Yet they paid $2.5 million in cash in 2023 for a property in wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut, and own a mortgage-free home in Stamford worth $1 million, he wrote.

Steed also sent $2 million over the past several years to relatives, other people and entities in Argentina, where he apparently owns a cattle and tea ranch, according to the order.

In July 2012 he set up a company, Ibera LLC, and a year later he began submitting false invoices from it to Mars, according to the federal indictment. The scheme allegedly went on until December 2020, with Steed stealing nearly $580,000 with the bogus invoices.

A bigger scheme beginning in 2016 would result in the diversion of millions of dollars from Mars through another Steed-created company, MCNA LLC, the indictment said. Prosecutors say Steed told certain sugar refineries who were buying “re-export credits” from Mars to send the money to MCNA instead.

Steed also used MCNA in other scams including one involving the theft of more than $11 million from the sale of Mars’s shares in a financial services company, according to the indictment.

Steed was appointed in early 2021 by then-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to serve on an agricultural trade advisory committee for sweeteners and sweetener products.

In a LinkedIn posting previewing a commodities conference in New York City last year, Steed was listed as serving in several sugar industry groups, including being a former president of the New York Sugar Club. He also was a member of the Intercontinental Exchange’s Sugar Contract Committee and a board member of the U.S. Sugar Users Association.