Related Federal Cases
Former Sommet Group Managing Partner Convicted of $15 Million Fraud Scheme
L. Brian Whitfield, 49, formerly of Franklin, Tennessee, was convicted by a federal jury on January 23, 2015, after an eight-day trial, of 14 fraud-related counts, announced David Rivera, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The evidence during the trial established that Whitfield controlled the finances and funds of the Sommet Group LLC, a payroll processing company that operated in Franklin, Tennessee. From 2008 until 2010, Whitfield diverted millions of dollars of client funds that had been earmarked to fund client employee retirement accounts, to pay health claims, and to pay taxes.
Instead of using these client funds in the manner in which Sommet had contracted, Whitfield diverted millions of dollars to prop up affiliated companies that he controlled and spent millions of dollars to acquire the naming rights of Nashville’s professional hockey arena, which came to be known as the Sommet Center.
As a result of Whitfield’s fraud, retirement funds were not fully deposited into the accounts of employees whose paychecks were processed by Sommet, medical and prescription drug claims by employees were not fully paid, and taxes owed by clients to federal, state, and local governments went unpaid.
Whitfield will be sentenced by Judge Campbell on January 26, 2015. Whitfield faces up to 20 years in prison on each of three counts of wire fraud, up to 10 years in prison on each of four counts of money laundering, up to 5 years in prison on a conspiracy count and on each of three counts of theft from an employee benefit plan, and up to 3 years in prison on each of four counts of filing a false federal tax return.
Whitfield also faces fines and will be ordered to pay restitution to his victims. In addition, the jury specified that Whitfield should forfeit $1.8 million of proceeds from his offenses.
Key Facts
- State: Tennessee
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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