A grand jury in South Florida indicted two brothers from Miami-Dade County for their involvement in a bribery and money laundering scheme that allegedly defrauded thousands of Subway franchise owners in the United States of over 80 million dollars for decades.
The accused are Janet Risi Field, 66 years old and a resident of Pinecrest, and her brother Steven Louis Risi, 70, from Coral Gables, reported last Thursday, October 1st, by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Risi Field was a co-founder in 1996 of the Independent Purchasing Cooperative, Inc. (IPC), a nonprofit organization responsible for managing Subway's supply chain in North America and negotiating with suppliers for food, supplies, and services prices.
Until December 2021, she served as the executive director of IPC and had the authority to approve contracts that directly affected the costs incurred by thousands of franchisees.
According to the accusation, he allegedly took advantage of that position to establish secret agreements with intermediaries for suppliers of products such as processed meats, cheeses, and cookies. Part of the commissions obtained from those contracts was said to have been delivered to Risi Field and other members of his family.
The authorities claim that the brothers and their relatives used shell companies to conceal over 60 million dollars in bribes and illegal commissions.
The scheme would have had a direct impact on the owners of Subway restaurants, who were required to purchase certain products through suppliers approved by IPC. According to the allegations, the scheme would have affected the costs incurred by the franchisees, who were unaware of the secret payments connected to contracts with suppliers.
According to the prosecutors, the money was used to finance home renovations in Florida and North Carolina, private investments, personal expenses, club memberships, and over $400,000 in jewelry.
The accusation also claims that, in the early 2000s, Risi Field would have promoted the creation of a secret fund from which approximately 25 million dollars in payments were made, primarily for her benefit and others involved. Part of those resources reportedly went towards covering, among other expenses, over 420,000 dollars for a personal assistant to the family and more than 150,000 dollars for domestic employees.
In 2011, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Risi Field allegedly managed to persuade one of his accomplices to disburse approximately 8 million dollars to settle a lawsuit from a former IPC contractor who was alleging inappropriate financial relationships with suppliers. The agreement was reportedly not disclosed to the board of directors.
When his contractual relationship with IPC ended in 2021, the board was unaware of those payments, and Risi Field received over six million dollars in compensation, the indictment states.
The two brothers face a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and two charges for monetary transactions involving property derived from illegal activities, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Risi Field also faces charges related to electronic fraud and honest services fraud, which can carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
The process became known just a few days after another significant case of financial fraud in South Florida. Real estate developer Rishi Kapoor was sentenced to 11 years and four months in federal prison for money laundering after diverting 89 million dollars from investors.
In addition to the criminal proceedings, IPC filed a civil lawsuit in Miami-Dade in 2025 against Risi Field and others involved, estimating the losses suffered by its franchisees at around 200 million dollars, a significantly higher figure than the more than 80 million mentioned in the federal indictment.
The criminal case, identified as 26-cr-20405, is being investigated by the FBI in Miami and the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC-OIG).
The accusations contained in a federal indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Related videos:
Filed under: