Former Company Controller Sentenced To 33 Months In Prison For Stealing More Than $600,000 From His Employer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Darren White, 49, of Mooresville, N.C. was sentenced on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, to serve 33 months in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from his former employer, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney also imposed a $10,000 fine and two years of supervised release after White’s incarceration.

U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division and Chief Rodney D. Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, from 2008 to 2011, White was employed by an international labeling solutions company (the “company”) with offices in Charlotte, as the company’s controller and director of financial planning and analysis. In that capacity, White managed the company’s credit card program, which included overseeing his employer’s credit card accounts and related financial statements. Court records indicate that White was the only employee with administrative access to the accounting records related to the company’s credit card program.

According to documents filed in the case, over the course of his employment, White exploited his position and used the company’s corporate credit card to pay for more than $600,000 in personal expenditures. Court filings reflect that White used the company’s credit card to buy personal items such as firearms, diving equipment, clothing, and household goods and electronics, and to pay for personal expenditures including travel expenses and entertainment. As described in further court documents, White created a series of fraudulent accounting entries in the company’s books and records to conceal his scheme. Court records indicate that when White was initially confronted by his employer about the credit card transactions, White characterized them as legitimate business expenses authorized by the company’s management. White pleaded guilty in January 2014 to one count of wire fraud.

In handing down White’s sentence, Judge Whitney noted that White’s multi-year criminal scheme caused great harm to the victim company. Judge Whitney also stressed that general deterrence was an important factor in reaching his decision to imprison White for 33 months.

White will remain free on bond and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by the FBI and CMPD. The prosecution for the government is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Mark T. Odulio and Benjamin Bain-Creed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.