A Sweet Tooth for Theft: How Millions Melted Away in Candy Company Scam
Schulz Trade Consulting LLC
by Mark Jenkins, Managing Director, Schulz Trade Consulting LLC
September 24, 2025
Sometimes a sweet tooth goes beyond craving candy—when greed and decay set in, it can rot the very heart of an organization, turning a fondness for sweetness into a recipe for fraud.
Inside a Multimillion-Dollar Internal Fraud Scheme
A former employee of **Sweetland Confections, Inc.**¹ orchestrated a sophisticated fraud scheme spanning roughly 12 years, stealing over $28 million from the company known for its iconic chocolate bars and confections.
Fraud Schemes Exposed
- The fraud centered largely on the Sugar-Containing Products Re-Export Program, a USDA initiative allowing U.S. manufacturers to purchase sugar at world market prices for products intended for export, thus leveling the playing field internationally.
- Payments related to export credits under this program flow through sugar refiners, who receive benefits such as importing raw sugar at reduced tariffs for export use, allowing them to buy sugar at lower world-market prices rather than the higher domestic prices, which provides them with a financial advantage.
- The fraudster set up a fake company, SLNA LLC, nearly identical in name to an internal corporate entity, Sweetland North America, and directed sugar refineries to route export credit payments to this sham company instead of the real corporate entity.
- Because internal controls over vendor payment validation and monitoring were weak, this diversion of payments went unnoticed for years.
- In parallel, the fraudster billed the company for fake services through another shell company, Iberia LLC, and forged authorization letters to sell company shares fraudulently, depositing stolen proceeds into personal accounts.
- Investigators later traced transfers of stolen funds overseas and luxury property purchases, revealing the financial scope of the scheme.
Prevention Insights for Counsel and Compliance Officers
- Implement strict validation procedures for all payees, especially when payments involve complex government programs like export credits.
- Segregate duties to prevent single-person control over payment approvals and vendor management.
- Conduct frequent audits, with reconciliation of export credit transactions and exception reporting.
- Use automated monitoring tools to flag payments directed to new or suspicious entities.
- Train employees regularly on fraud risks and maintain confidential whistleblower channels.
Key Takeaways
Vigilance and governance are essential, even in well-established, globally recognized companies.
Complex government-related financial programs can be vulnerable to internal fraud when controls are lax.
A combination of strong vetting, oversight, audits, monitoring, and training defends against such schemes.
¹ “Sweetland Confections, Inc.”, and “SLNA LLC,” are fictitious names used to protect the identity of the actual entities involved.