Rochester Man Sentenced for Fraud and Money Laundering

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Kenneth Griffin, 46, of Rochester, New York, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, was sentenced to 46 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Field, who handled the case, stated that Griffin was the owner of an employment staffing business that operated under various names, including LHT USA and Cambridge Personnel. From August 2007 to June 2008, the defendant spearheaded a conspiracy to defraud lenders by selling them false invoices in transactions known as factoring. The fraud involved creating false invoices and other supporting documents that the defendant then sold to a series of financing companies on a weekly basis for immediate cash. When a financing company realized that it had been sold uncollectible invoices and stopped dealing with Griffin’s business, the defendant would change business names and continue the scheme with another financing company.

In total, Griffin and his confederates sold and attempted to sell more than $650,000 worth of bogus invoices to three separate factoring companies over a period of almost a year. He then laundered the proceeds of his crimes and used them to buy a Bentley, support a drug habit, and fund a lifestyle beyond his legitimate means.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Weirauch, and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian P. Boetig.