Jackson CEO Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Funds of Employees’ Health Care Benefit Program

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cory Kasinger, 42, of Jackson, the Chief Operating Officer of Mariah Resources Inc., pleaded guilty today to one misdemeanor count of embezzling funds from a health care benefit program and agreed to pay $36,980 in restitution, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, between March 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010, Kasinger withheld approximately $19,628 from the paychecks of Mariah Resources employees, which was to be applied towards the premiums of their health care benefit program. Instead of Kasinger paying the premiums, he returned these funds to the company’s general fund. As a result, the employees’ health care benefit program was terminated. The termination date was retroactive to March 1, 2010, which caused Mariah Resources employees to incur approximately $16,569 in out-of-pocket medical costs. Additionally, when the insurer sent $782 to Mariah Resources to reimburse former employees who were paying into the company’s COBRA program, Kasinger put the money into the general fund and did not pass it back to the former employees as he should have.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Special Assistant United States Attorney Elliot Wong is prosecuting the case.

Kasinger is scheduled to be sentenced on January 6, 2016 by United States Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman. Kasinger faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a fine of $100,000, and a one-year term of supervised release. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.