Ex-Home Depot employee not guilty in alleged kickback scheme

By Arielle Kass

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Mableton businessman who admitted sharing his seven-figure sales commission with a Home Depot product buyer has been found not guilty of federal charges in the case.

Ian Jay Evans, a former Home Depot employee who later started a logistics company that catered to the chain, admitted paying $1.4 million to a company employee who arranged to buy rugs and other items from Evans from 2002 to 2005. But his attorney argued, and the jury agreed, that the payments were not a federal offense even if they violated the retailer's policy.

"The jurors concluded that Home Depot did not lose a penny," said Bruce H. Morris, Evans' attorney. "They made millions. They suffered no loss."

Evans had been charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and 17 counts of money laundering.

The Home Depot product buyer in the case, Ronald Douglass Matheny, pleaded guilty to honest services fraud last year.

These cases are part of a larger investigation into kickbacks at the company; in June 2009, Anthony Tesvich, a former flooring buyer, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison and agreed to pay $8.2 million in restitution for masterminding a kickback scheme. It led to the convictions of his ex-wife, Melissa Deaton Tesvich, and other Home Depot employees.

Evans' week-long trial was in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The jury returned with a verdict Monday after about 30 minutes, Evans said.

"I'm blessed," he said. "The truth came out."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said the department had no comment on the case.

Stephen Holmes, a Home Depot spokesman, said the company is considering filing civil charges against Evans.

"We don't tolerate bribes such as those Evans testified to paying Matheny," he said.

Morris said Evans shared his commission in two transactions, one involving the sale of rugs from rug vendors to Home Depot. In the second, Matheny selected Evans as a consolidator for rugs as Home Depot sought to reset its entire rug department.