Former Employee Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud International Paper Corporation
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 05, 2010 |
MEMPHIS, TN—James Wade Cox, a former employee of International Paper Corporation, pleaded guilty today in federal court to a felony charge of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud announced Edward L. Stanton, III, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Cox had been charged in a seven-count indictment with a scheme to defraud International Paper of approximately $737,000.
During the plea hearing, Cox admitted to devising a scheme to defraud International Paper by approving false and fraudulent invoices for services that were not rendered. After International Paper wired the payments to accounts in Mississippi and Florida, Cox admitted to receiving a portion of the proceeds from the scheme. Cox admitted that the scheme began in 2006 and continued until November 2009. The maximum sentence that Cox is facing is 20 years.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David C. Henry.