Avon Man Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Embezzling $200K from Employer

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CRAIG LARSEN, 54, of Avon, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for embezzling more than $200,000 from his employer.

According to court documents and documents filed in court, LARSEN was employed by Maximum Human Performance (“MHP”), a New Jersey-based company that provided supplements for bodybuilding, strength, weight loss and fitness.  In approximately November 2012, LARSEN became the head of MHP’s quality control and had authority to approve bills submitted to MHP by its vendors.  Between approximately November 2013 and February 2015, LARSEN presented fraudulent invoices to MHP that falsely represented that a company he controlled, R.E.T.S., had performed quality control services for MHP when no such services had been provided.  Through this scheme, LARSEN caused approximately 40 false invoices to be submitted to MHP requesting the payment of nearly $204,000 for services purportedly performed by R.E.T.S., and subsequently used his authority to approve the invoices for payment.

Judge Meyer ordered LARSEN to pay restitution of $203,988.71.

On January 25, 2016, LARSEN pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud.

Between 2007 and 2009, LARSEN stole approximately $100,000 from a previous employer.  An attorney at the time, he served as the company’s vice president of legal and regulatory affairs.  He has since been disbarred.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Wines.