• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 16, 2022

Frank Okunak, the former CFO and later COO of Interpublic Group’s Weber Shadwick PR firm was sentenced earlier this month to 52 months in prison by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel.

The sentence followed Okunak’s guilty plea earlier this year to charges related to a decade-long scheme to embezzle over $16 million from the PR firm.

In addition to the prison term Okunak, 56, agreed to forfeit $10,823,575.57 and to pay restitution of $16,043,603.71. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

The U.S. Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI carried out an investigation.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated that, “Frank Okunak conducted a nearly decade-long conspiracy to embezzle millions of dollars from his employer and the public shareholders of his employer.” The sentence, imposed on Dec. 6, added Williams, “should serve as a warning to executives that if they use their company’s money as if it were their own, they will face lengthy prison time.”