Misty Brotherton-Tanner, Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, West Virginia 2021

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Charleston woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, defrauding local businesses out of over $500,000.

Misty Brotherton-Tanner, 41, entered a guilty plea in federal court to the felony charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, a $750,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

Brotherton-Tanner faces a restitution hearing on July 15, 2021, where she will be ordered to pay back the $537,173 she stole from the businesses.

According to court documents, Brotherton-Tanner provided bookkeeping and accounting services for several local businesses in the Charleston area from 2014 to 2020. During this time, she devised a scheme to defraud the businesses by electronically transferring money and hiding the transactions under the guise of legitimate business activities.

Brotherton-Tanner would list herself as an employee for the businesses, set up fraudulent accounts in the name of fictional workers, and misrepresent that she had paid state and federal taxes for the businesses when she had not done so. All of the transferred money was moved into her personal checking accounts.

Brotherton-Tanner’s scheme was uncovered after an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the West Virginia State Tax Department-Criminal Investigation Division.

Her mother, Lois Brotherton, also pleaded guilty to her role in the scheme and will be sentenced on April 28, 2021.

Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston praised the agencies involved in the investigation, saying their work was ‘excellent.’

Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. presided over the guilty plea hearing, with Assistant United States Attorneys Erik S. Goes and Kathleen Robeson handling the prosecution.

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