Adam Meyers, Mail Fraud, Connecticut 2023

Two men involved in a massive fraud scheme have been sentenced in a Connecticut court. Adam Meyers, 44, of Southbury, was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in the scheme.

Meyers and his co-conspirator, Jason Torrance, devised a scheme to defraud their employers by arranging for payment on goods that never shipped and instead diverting those payments to themselves. The scheme, which lasted from approximately March 2008 and August 2012, netted the pair over $600,000.

The scheme worked as follows: Meyers identified projects on which he believed the profit margin would permit them to divert excess profits to themselves without their employer becoming aware. Meyers would submit a purchase order for materials to Torrance, who would then submit a purchase order to Daniel Wall, owner of Bob Wall and Associates, a Cheshire-based distributor of electrical and other related equipment.

Wall would then submit an invoice to Distributor-1, a New Jersey-based electrical and industrial supply company, for the materials listed on the purchase order. Distributor-1 would pay the invoice by mailing a check to Bob Wall and Associates. Wall would then hand-deliver a business check to Torrance for approximately 90 percent of the money that had been paid by Distributor-1 to Bob Wall and Associates, and Wall retained the remaining 10 percent as his share of the proceeds from the scheme.

Torrance would then pay out a portion of the proceeds of the scheme to Meyers. At no time did any product on the purchase orders actually ship to the customer.

On February 23, 2015, Meyers and Torrance each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. On July 15, 2015, Wall pleaded guilty to one count of misprision of a felony. Torrance awaits sentencing.

The victim companies lost more than $600,000 as a result of this scheme. Restitution will be determined after additional court proceedings. This matter has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David E. Novick and William J. Nardini.

This case is a stark reminder of the importance of vigilance in the business world. It highlights the need for companies to implement robust internal controls to prevent such schemes from occurring in the first place.

The investigation and prosecution of this case demonstrate the commitment of law enforcement and the government to protecting the public from financial crimes.

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