Thomas Turey of Norwalk, Connecticut, is accused of writing cheques to himself from an RTI account that is typically used to pay incentives to people who have taken part in research projects.

According to local press reports, Turey is alleged to have written 106 cheques to himself between 2010 and January 2013, when he left the company. The cheques were worth a total of $1.2m.

In announcing Turey’s arrest, Connecticut District Attorney David Fein said that the majority of funds “were subsequently transferred into Turey’s online brokerage account”.

FBI investigations are ongoing, but the complaint against Turey alleges that he has embezzled additional funds from the firm.

Turey appeared before a US magistrate judge last week and was released on a $300,000 bond. He could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of wire fraud.

He worked for RTI for 17 years, during which time his responsibilities included aggregating the company’s monthly revenue and expense results, managing accounts receivable, performing financial analysis and reporting, and overseeing the company’s bookkeeper. He was also responsible for the company’s general ledger and was in charge of conducting the company’s bank reconciliations.

RTI was founded in 1979 by Mel Rothstein and Richard Tauber. It placed 48th on last year’s Honomichl Top 50 ranking of US research companies with $16.6m in annual revenue.