Coughlin Sued By Ex-Employee
Man Says Supervisor Threatened To Fire Him If He Didn't Create False Invoices
Last updated Tuesday, September 5, 2006 10:39 PM CDT in News
By Anita French
The Morning News
Robert E. Hey Jr., the former Wal-Mart executive who worked under then-vice chairman Tom Coughlin and was later prosecuted and found guilty of abetting Coughlin in defrauding the company, is suing his former supervisor.
Hey, 42, of Garfield pleaded guilty Nov. 7 in federal court in Fort Smith to three criminal counts of defrauding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. by creating false invoices between March 2001 and October 2001, in an amount exceeding $15,000.
Hey was sentenced June 22 to one day in prison and six months of supervised release and fined $3,000.
The false invoices allegedly went to pay for personal items for Coughlin. Coughlin, 57, who resigned from Wal-Mart in March 2005, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith to five counts of wire fraud against the company and one count of filing a false income tax return.
Coughlin was sentenced Aug. 11 to 27 months of home detention, five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $460,000 in fines and restitution.
As part of a plea agreement, Hey agreed to testify against Coughlin.
Hey says in his lawsuit against Coughlin -- filed Tuesday in Benton County Circuit Court -- that, as director and vice president of Wal-Mart's operations development, he worked for and was under the direction supervision of Coughlin.
The lawsuit states Coughlin directed Hey to authorize the payment of invoices to Coughlin "in violation" of company policy, and Coughlin claimed the money was to be used for anti-union activities.
Hey claims in his suit Coughlin told him it was necessary to "create a paper trail that would appear to be legitimate" and, to that end, Coughlin "ordered and directed" Hey to create the invoices.
Hey alleges in his lawsuit Coughlin threatened to fire him if he did not follow Coughlin's orders. He accuses Coughlin in his lawsuit of "intentional interference with contractual or business expectancy" and causing "emotional distress" and asks for damages.
Hey worked at Wal-Mart for more than 20 years. He is being represented in his lawsuit by Fayetteville attorney John Everett, who was unavailable for comment.
Hey's action is the latest fallout from the Coughlin case. Rita Miles, who works in Wal-Mart's Labor Relations Department, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against her employer, claiming it violated the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act by retaliating against Miles after she protested the alleged shredding of documents related to the Coughlin case by Wal-Mart. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
Wal-Mart has denied Miles' claim.
Jared Bowen, a former Wal-Mart vice president who also worked under Coughlin and was fired by the company in April 2005 for allegedly abetting Coughlin, also has a federal whistleblower complaint pending against Wal-Mart, along with a defamation lawsuit filed in civil court.
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