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Press Release

Corvallis Man Receives Federal Prison Sentence for Defrauding Local Company

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. – On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Matthew Linderman, 50, of Corvallis, Oregon, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised released for wire fraud and filing a false tax return. Linderman was also ordered to pay over $1.7 million in restitution.

According to court documents, Linderman used his position as business area manager at Corvallis-based Trimble Forestry Automation to approve invoices from companies with whom he was personally associated. He used his knowledge of Trimble’s invoicing procedures to ensure that he alone would be required to authorize the expenditures. Linderman received a substantial amount of each vendor payment in the form of kickbacks to companies he owned including Strategic Enterprises and Santiam Organics.

Between 2009 and 2013, Linderman approved over $2.2 million in payments to Precision Mobile Integration and J. Waldien Designs. After he was terminated, Trimble discovered that the owner of the two vendors was a friend and former military colleague of Linderman’s, Jeffery Waldien. Waldien pleaded guilty and was sentenced in a separate case in January 2018.

A detailed financial analysis conducted by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) discovered that of the more than $850,000 Trimble paid to J. Waldien Designs, more than $763,000 was based on fraudulent invoices. Approximately $636,000 of those funds were transferred to Strategic Enterprises and used by Linderman to start Santiam Organics. The analysis further discovered over $1 million in fraudulent payments to Precision Mobile Integration, the majority of which Linderman used for business and personal expenses.

Linderman pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and filing a false federal income tax return on September 15, 2016.

This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS CI and prosecuted by Gavin Bruce and Amy Potter, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

Updated March 14, 2018

Topics
Financial Fraud
Tax
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