The Fruits of Labor cost an Employer 14 Million Dollars
Daniel Fruits, the manager of a trucking company, was sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
Between 2015 and 2019, a Kentucky based entity invested 14 million dollars in the trucking company, and Fruits used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, embezzling the entire amount of the investment.
Fruits purchased real estate, several cars, including two Ferraris and a Corvette, farm equipment, a horse trailer, a show horse, expensive jewelry, including several Rolex watches, firearms, private jet flights, and high end escort services.
In 2019, Fruits’ employer asked him to hire an outside company to review the company’s finances, and Fruits fabricated a letter from a local accountant. Once the employer followed up with the accountant and learned that the letter was falsified, Fruits was let go the following day. The criminal investigation began shortly thereafter.
Fruits was ordered to pay $14,339,252.04 in restitution to his victims and a $14,270,000 money judgment.