Chatham County Manager Charged in $1.3 Million Fraud Scheme Involving Fake Vendors

John Laakso, a former engineering manager at GAF Materials Corporation in Chatham County, has been charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that defrauded the company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 56-year-old Sarasota, Florida resident, who also used the aliases “John Larson” and “John Trebesch,” is facing four counts of Wire Fraud. If convicted, Laakso could face up to 20 years in prison on each charge, along with substantial fines, restitution, and supervised release after any prison sentence.

As described in the indictment, Laakso worked as a contractor, and later as engineering manager, with GAF Materials Corporation. One of his duties was to procure equipment and services for the GAF facility in Savannah.

The indictment alleges that from 2021 to 2023, Laakso “assumed fictitious personas and created pass-through companies, hiding these activities from GAF.” He would award contracts to those fictitious companies which, in turn, would subcontract with an actual vendor to provide the product or service at a lower cost. Laakso would then keep the difference in price “for his own use and enjoyment.”

The scheme resulted in GAF paying more than $1.3 million in fraudulent invoices, with Laakso keeping hundreds of thousands for himself from the marked-up costs.

“This indictment alleges a scheme in which an employee betrayed the trust of an employer for self-enrichment at the employer’s expense,” said U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg. “We commend the work of our law enforcement partners in unraveling this fraudulent operation.”

The case is being investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darron J. Hubbard and Bradford C. Patrick.

Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.