Owner Of Freight Shipping Company Admits Role In A Scheme To Defraud Pharmaceutical Company Out Of $3 Million

NEWARK N.J. – The owner of a Morris County, New Jersey, freight shipping company today admitted billing a medical devices and pharmaceutical company more than $3 million for services that were never provided, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Courtney P. Shorter, 48, of Roselle, New Jersey, and Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of mail fraud.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Shorter owned Sam Shorter & Son Delivery Service LLC, a freight shipping and trucking company in Long Valley, New Jersey. Company B manufactured and supplied insulated containers to Company A, a medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Company C was a freight invoice processing company headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that Company A used to pay trucking companies.

From 2008 through April 2010, Shorter charged Company A for transporting shipments from Company B to Company A when, in fact, those shipments were never made. Shorter admitted that he and others sent Company C more than 1,725 fraudulent invoices for work that was never actually performed. As a result of the invoices, Shorter received $3,039,840 from Company C, which he later deposited into bank accounts he controlled and used for personal expenses, including more than $120,000 in jewelry.

The mail fraud charge to which Shorter pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 28, 2015.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel, with the investigation leading to the today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

Defense Counsel: Randy P. Davenport Esq. and Steven Brister Esq., Union, New Jersey