A Southern Illinois contractor and former ALDI executive have been sentenced to pay more than $2.8 million to ALDI following a fraudulent bidding scheme.
Louis R. Ross and Donald E. Schniers both pleaded guilty to counts of mail and wire fraud as well as conspiracy to commit these crimes.
Ross was the Director of Real Estate for ALDI's O'Fallon, Missouri Division. Schniers owned C. Juengal Company out of Breese, Illinois. Schniers provided general contracting services including construction and renovation of ALDI stores in Ross's Division.
For at least 4 years Ross and Schniers worked together to fabricate a competitive biding environment for construction projects in the area. Schniers would complete false bid forms under the guise of other construction companies without their knowledge. These fake bids would always include higher amounts than the ones from Schniers own company, which led to C. Juengal being awarded the projects.
Ross and Schniers also altered legitimate bids in order to manipulate the bidding process.
The men have been ordered to pay over $2.8 million in restitution to ALDI.
