Vending firm ex-official sentenced in Pepsi fraud

The Associated Press

Published: July 29, 2014 5:24 pm
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Newark, N.J. • A former official of a New Jersey-based vending company has been sentenced to prison time for his role in a scheme that defrauded the Pepsi Bottling Group of $2.9 million over a 10-year period.

Cedar Grove resident Joseph Belasco was ordered Tuesday to serve six months in prison and six months of home confinement. He also will pay $1 million in restitution and must serve two years of supervised release once he's freed from prison.

The 65-year-old Belasco pleaded guilty last November to a complaint charging him with providing a false 2008 Internal Revenue Service 1099 tax form to the wife of a PepsiCo executive for consulting services she never performed.

Pepsi Bottling Group is owned by Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc.

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