Cameron Garrison, 401(k) Embezzlement, North Carolina 2017

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cameron Garrison, 37, a former Charlotte business owner, is headed to federal prison after admitting to pilfering nearly $95,000 from his employees’ retirement savings. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. sentenced Garrison to 12 months and a day behind bars on Friday, March 3, 2017, following an investigation that exposed a calculated scheme to line his own pockets.

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Jill Westmoreland Rose, announced the sentencing, alongside Isabel Colon, Regional Director of the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Atlanta Regional Office, and John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina. The collaborative effort brought to light a betrayal of trust that left 21 employees shortchanged and their futures jeopardized.

Court documents reveal that between 2008 and 2010, Garrison, founder and former CEO of Garrison Enterprises, Inc., systematically failed to remit employee contributions to the company’s 401(k) profit-sharing plan. Instead of forwarding the deducted funds to the plan, Garrison funneled the money into Garrison Enterprises’ general bank account and then siphoned it into his personal account. The transfers were disguised as payroll, car allowances, and loan repayments, while Garrison also directly withdrew cash for personal expenses.

Garrison Enterprises, established in 1999 and focused on web-based data management applications, administratively dissolved in January 2015. But the damage was already done. The total loss to the employees’ retirement accounts is estimated between $95,000 and $150,000. Garrison pleaded guilty in September 2016 to one count of embezzlement from employee 401(k) plans, a move that ultimately failed to spare him from imprisonment. He’s ordered to pay $116,245.19 in restitution.

“Theft of employee benefit assets jeopardizes the benefits of workers,” stated Isabel Colon, underscoring the severity of the crime. “This case reaffirms the U.S. Department of Labor’s commitment to protect workers’ benefits by identifying criminal activity wherever and whenever it occurs.” Garrison will report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a facility, and will serve his sentence without the possibility of parole.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Vento, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, led the prosecution, building a case based on evidence gathered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and the FBI. The investigation serves as a stark reminder that even seemingly sophisticated schemes to defraud employees will be exposed and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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