Stamford Candy Executive Steals $29 Million from M&M Maker Mars, Inc.
Federal prosecutors say a Stamford man who pulled off a multimillion-dollar fraud against his longtime employer Mars, Inc. has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion — and, in a twist of irony, is now being charged by the IRS for failing to pay taxes on the money he stole.
According to David X. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, 58-year-old Paul R. Steed entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to multiple fraud and tax offenses connected to a years-long embezzlement scheme that spanned more than a decade.
Court documents show that between 2011 and 2023, Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as the Global Price Risk Manager for Mars Wrigley’s Global Cocoa Enterprise, a subsidiary of the candy and food giant Mars, Inc. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing Mars’s participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sugar-Containing Products Re-Export Program, which allows companies to re-export sugar-based goods duty-free under certain conditions.
Prosecutors said that around 2016, Steed created a sham company called MCNA LLC — a near replica of “Mars Chocolate North America” — and then redirected more than $15 million of company funds into a bank account under that fake entity’s name. He accomplished this by instructing sugar refineries working with Mars to send payments to MCNA LLC as if it were a legitimate Mars subsidiary.
Steed didn’t stop there. Mars held an ownership stake in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), the financial services company behind the New York Stock Exchange, and regularly received quarterly dividends through Computershare, a firm that managed its stock-related payments. In 2017, Steed forged communications and directed Computershare to send Mars’s dividend payments — totaling more than $700,000 — to the MCNA account instead. Then, in 2023, he upped the ante, allegedly using a fake letter that appeared to be from the Mars treasurer to authorize himself to trade Mars’s ICE shares. He convinced Computershare to sell off Mars’s entire stake, pocketing a check worth $11.3 million, which he quietly deposited into his own fraudulent account.
Between 2013 and 2020, Steed also used another company he owned, Ibera LLC, to bill Mars for bogus consulting services, collecting more than $700,000 for work that never happened.
Adding insult to injury, Steed never reported any of his stolen income on his federal tax returns from 2014 through 2023. The IRS now says he owes more than $10.3 million in unpaid taxes on money he never should have had in the first place — a bit of dark humor in the case, as the government is essentially taxing him on his own theft.
Steed pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, each carrying up to 20 years in prison, and one count of tax evasion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. He has agreed to pay $28.4 million in restitution to Mars and owes the IRS over $10 million in back taxes.
Federal agents have already seized more than $18 million from Steed’s accounts. Authorities are also moving to seize or liquidate his Greenwich home, purchased with nearly $2.3 million in stolen funds, and are investigating an additional $2 million he allegedly sent to Argentina, where he holds dual citizenship, owns a ranch, and has family ties.
Steed was arrested on March 26, 2025, and is currently out on a $5 million bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for December 9.
It’s a story that blends white-collar audacity with cinematic irony: a man who stole millions from a global candy empire now facing justice — and a hefty tax bill — for his ill-gotten gains.
Paul lived in a 2m house in Greenwich with a pool and horses.
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