Founder And CEO Of Defunct Tampa Technology Company Sentenced To 80 Months In Prison For Investment Fraud

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich has sentenced Timothy Munro Roberts (57, Missouri) to six years and eight months in federal prison for wire fraud. He was also ordered to pay $5,874,912.52 in restitution to the victims of the fraud. Roberts pleaded guilty on January 9, 2017.

According to court documents, in 2010, Roberts and his codefendant, Terrance Taylor, founded Savtira Corporation, Inc., a technology company headquartered in Ybor City. Savtira purported to offer a centralized, cloud-based shopping cart platform for online and traditional retailers. While marketing Savtira stock to investors, Roberts and Taylor made false claims and promises. In particular, they claimed that the company was profitable and owned patents, that they had entered into executed agreements with nationally recognized technology firms, and that Savtira was valued between $450 million and $540 million. Roberts and Taylor then misused and misappropriated investor funds for personal expenses and made cash withdrawals without the investors’ consent. They also failed to disclose key facts to investors, including that Roberts had entered into a prior settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that required him to pay a fine and banned him from selling unregistered securities.

Taylor, Savtira’s CFO, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on December 17, 2017, to five years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation - Bureau of Financial Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy Riedel.