July 7th, 2008
Former CEO of AIRTRANS Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison
for Theft of 401(k) Funds
Memphis, TN - On July 3, 2008, United States District Court Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr., sentenced Freddie Ford, former CEO of Airtrans, a now defunct trucking company based in Dyersburg, Tennessee, to fifteen (15) months in prison following his conviction for theft of 401(k) funds announced Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
In December of 2006, Ford was indicted for theft of approximately $10,771.92 from the Airtrans, Inc., RSI 401(k) retirement plan in violation of section 664 of Title 18 of the United States Code. This section makes it a crime to embezzle or steal any funds from an employee pension benefit plan. Ford was found guilty following a jury trial in November of 2007.
In April 2008, in the unrelated case of US v Freddie Ford and David Hernandez, Ford was found guilty of 37 counts of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and money laundering in United States District Court in Memphis, Tennessee. Sentencing in this case is currently pending.
“Mr. Ford has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, without the possibility for parole, for taking money from those who were working hard and planning for their own retirement,” said Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. “The investigation and prosecution of white collar crimes is one of the priorities of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.”
"Theft of employee benefit assets jeopardizes the benefits of workers,” said Rebecca Marshall, Regional Director of the Atlanta Office of the Employee Benefits Security Administration. “This case reaffirms our commitment to protection of workers’ benefits by identifying criminal activity wherever and whenever it occurs.”
The case was investigated by Mike Morrow, an investigator with the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Murphy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
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