Wade Barbay, Wire Fraud, LA 2024

BATON ROUGE, LA – Wade Barbay, 54, a former financial executive, admitted today to systematically looting his employer, Axiall Corporation, of over $1.4 million. Barbay pled guilty before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles to a wire fraud scheme that spanned five and a half years, turning his trusted position into a personal slush fund. Sentencing is pending.

The scheme, as detailed in court, revolved around Barbay’s role as Director of Shared Services, overseeing Axiall’s corporate credit card program. From January 2011 through May 2016, Barbay inflated legitimate business expenses submitted by other employees. Axiall, unaware of the manipulation, paid these inflated amounts to American Express. The crucial step? Barbay then directed American Express to credit the difference – a staggering $1,125,000 – directly into his own account. He didn’t stop there.

Beyond the credit card fraud, Barbay also pilfered corporate refund checks, diverting approximately $280,430 into his personal bank account. The total take: a brazen $1,406,080 stolen from a company that employs roughly 9,000 people across 42 facilities worldwide, including a significant operation in Plaquemine, Louisiana, where Barbay had worked for over 24 years. A quarter-century of loyalty repaid with calculated theft.

“Fraud schemes perpetrated by insiders, particularly those entrusted with an organization’s finances, pose a serious threat to all organizations and, by extension, their employees,” stated Acting United States Attorney Corey Amundson. “Our office will continue to aggressively pursue such matters… Once identified, these fraudsters must not be allowed to simply move to their next victim employer.” The sentiment underscores a growing frustration with repeat offenders slipping through the cracks.

FBI Special Agent-In-Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet echoed the sentiment, stating, “This is yet another example of how greed has driven an individual to enrich himself through dishonesty and theft.” The investigation, conducted by the FBI’s Baton Rouge Resident Agency, highlights the agency’s focus on dismantling white-collar crime rings within the state. “The arms of justice have a long reach,” Sallet added, a warning to those considering similar schemes.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M.P. Thornhill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana, working in conjunction with the Baton Rouge Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Axiall Corporation, an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemical products headquartered in Houston, Texas, has cooperated fully with the investigation, seeking to recover its losses and prevent future exploitation. Barbay now awaits sentencing, facing the consequences of a long-running betrayal of trust.