Indianapolis company accuses ex-employee of faking more than $60K in commissions

An Indianapolis-based company has filed a lawsuit accusing one of its former employees of receiving more than $60,000 in commission pay by filing several fraudulent customer orders.

Separators Inc., a centrifuge solutions provider, filed the lawsuit against defendant Travis Szczeniak on Aug. 29 in Marion Superior Court.

The company is represented by Christopher Murray with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Murray did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.

The Lawyer tried to reach Szczeniak for comment by calling the office of his current employer but did not receive a response.

Szczeniak was hired as the Separators’ central regional sales manager in March 2022. As part of his job, Szczeniak was responsible for marketing Separators’ products and services to customers in the central region of the United States.

When he was hired on, he signed a confidentiality agreement, which stated he would keep the company’s confidential information private and would return certain materials given to him as an employee at the end of his employment period, according to court documents.

Szczeniak received a company laptop as part of the job. He allegedly copied trade secret and confidential company information from Separators’ customer relationship management system over to a personal Google account, which is against company policy.

Separators also claims that Szczeniak submitted at least three fraudulent orders to the company and failed to cancel a fourth order during his employment, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars for the company. Szczeniak’s alleged misdeeds were discovered after he had resigned.

Separators paid Szczeniak approximately $61,000 in commissions based on the orders that customers later said were not real, according to court documents. The company alleges that Szczeniak deliberately delayed and avoided sending invoices to customers for the fraudulent orders he submitted, which date back to February 2024.

In addition to the fake orders, Separators also claims that Szczeniak failed to return his company laptop in a timely manner upon resigning. Szczeniak began working for a direct competitor to Separators a few days after resigning from the company, and officials from his former company are concerned he has disclosed the company’s confidential information to his new employer.

While Separators said Szczeniak returned the company laptop only after the company retained counsel to demand his compliance, it claimes Szczeniak still has not returned any of the money he made from the falsified customer orders or allowed Separators access to his personal devices to ensure he has not misused the company’s confidential information.

Separators is suing Szczeniak for breach of contract, fraud, conversion, theft, unjust enrichment, deception, and breach of fiduciary duty. They’re also suing him under the Crime Victims Relief Act, arguing Separators has suffered pecuniary damages and irreparable injuries to its rights.

The company is seeking judgment against Szczeniak for the amount of its damages, disgorgement of commissions, and more monetary relief.