Utica Steel's existence threatened by Owner's theft of millions

[n2doc]

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER AND JOHN GALLAGHER
Utica Steel is the quiet sort of company that builds America.

A fabricator and erector of architectural steel, the company has helped construct such landmarks as additions to the University of Michigan's law school and Crisler Arena, Oakland County Airport and the new Raleigh Studios complex in Pontiac.

Today, though, this 60-employee, $14-million-a-year firm in Chesterfield Township finds its very existence threatened, not just by a weak economy, but by the alleged actions of a former owner and his associate who stand accused of stealing $3.2 million from the very workers to whom they sold the company.

A lawsuit accuses John Lietke, the longtime head of Utica Steel, and Marilyn Amormino, the longtime controller, of using the company's coffers as a personal piggy bank. The pair allegedly used the money to build expensive houses and to pay other personal expenses.

more
http://www.freep.com/article/20110228/BUSINESS06/102280390/Utica-Steel-s-existence-threatened-by-allegations-3-2-million-theft-economy

[loudsue]

1. 60 employees: $14,000,000 / yr. That means that each employee

is responsible for helping to produce $233,333.00 per year.

I'd like to point out that these are both blue & white collar workers (it takes both to make a steel company flourish), and the republicans say that American workers aren't worth $8.00 per hour.

Now these aren't hard figures, but it is easy to see how important the worker is in all of this. There is no way in hell that any one CEO-type employee of that $14,000,000 firm is worth all the marbles, as it is in the big corporations that rule America, our legislatures and our judiciary.

[Angry Dragon]

2. +1000

[Starry Messenger]

3. It's those damn unions bleeding America dry.

:sarcasm:

No wait! It's food stamp users. Seriously, where is the outrage? Where are all the people who count the potato chop bags on this?