Bader Rutter’s former CFO charged in $2.7 million fraud
A longtime executive at the Milwaukee marketing firm Bader Rutter & Associates has been charged with stealing more than $2.7 million from the company. Vicki Berka, the former chief financial officer, faces two counts of wire fraud and two counts of unlawful monetary transactions in a federal indictment returned Tuesday in Milwaukee.
Berka, 62, also known as Vicki Berka-Davis, is scheduled to make her initial court appearance May 25. Federal court records do not identify her attorney.
According to the indictment: Bader Rutter self-funded its health insurance plan and used a third-party administrator to pay providers from a designated account Bader Rutter maintained at BMO Harris Bank.
Berka was the only person who could initiate and approve automated payments from the health fund.
From at least 2014 through 2017, Berka would initiate transfers to a US Bank account in the name of Furefriends Inc., a former business she owned.
She would then cover those payments by making false entries in Bader Rutter's general ledger indicating larger amounts were paid to legitimate providers.
Berka served as CFO from 2006 to 2018. The indictment indicates prosecutors will seek forfeiture of about $550,000 seized from four bank accounts, a condominium in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, and any other assets or funds traceable as proceeds from the fraud.
An official with Bader Rutter referred inquiries about Berka to a lawyer representing the company, who could not immediately be reached late Wednesday.