Former Executive Of Defunct Tampa Technology Company Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Investment Fraud

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich has sentenced Terrance F. Taylor (52, Bradenton) to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Court also ordered him to pay $3,341,500 in restitution to the victims of the fraud.

Taylor pleaded guilty on September 9, 2015.

According to court documents, in 2010, Taylor and Timothy Roberts 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 to sell products, regardless of the device used by the online purchaser. Roberts and Taylor marketed Savtira stock to investors by making false claims about the company, including that Savtira was profitable and that the company had entered into executed agreements with nationally recognized technology firms. They also falsely claimed that Savtira owned patents and/or that the company was valued between $450 and $540 million. Roberts and Taylor then misused and misappropriated some of the investors’ funds for personal expenses and cash withdrawals without the investors’ consent or knowledge. They also failed to disclose that Roberts had entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008 that required Roberts to pay a fine and banned him from selling unregistered securities.

Roberts previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 16, 2018.

This case was investigated by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation’s Bureau of Financial Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mandy Riedel and Rachel Jones.