Jury Finds Holdenville CPA Guilty of Lying to Federal Grand Jury

OKLAHOMA CITY—A jury has found WAYNE D. CHAMBERS, 61, of Holdenville, Oklahoma, guilty of lying to a federal grand jury, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to evidence at trial, Chambers worked as a CPA for Terra-Tech, LLC, an Oklahoma City company that installed underground cables for utilities and other businesses, and testified as a witness before a federal grand jury in 2007. During his testimony, Chambers was asked if any officer or employee of Terra-Tech had deposited business proceeds into personal bank accounts rather than corporate accounts. Chambers testified under oath that he was not aware of any such deposits. Evidence at trial, however, established that Chambers in fact knew this answer to be false. Specifically, evidence showed that before Chambers testified in the grand jury he had been asked by the target of the grand jury investigation to prepare amended tax returns in 2006 identifying Terra-Tech funds that had been deposited into a bank account of that target and actually provided the amended tax returns to the target.

Chambers was indicted on May 4, 2010. The trial last about three days and the jury deliberated approximately three and a half hours before finding him guilty. At sentencing, Chambers faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be set by the court in approximately 90 days.

These charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Cox.