Former Executive Sentenced for Embezzling from Family-Owned Business and Cheating on Taxes

PORTLAND, Ore. – On Monday, July 24, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Anna J. Brown sentenced Andrew Henry Jacobs, 50, to 24 months in federal prison for wire fraud in an embezzlement scheme and 15 months in prison for filing false tax returns. The sentences arose from a multiyear swindle in which Jacobs stole more than $352,000 from Pacific Seafood Group (PSG) and failed to disclose the proceeds of the crime to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), thereby evading at least $81,901 in personal income taxes.

Court documents and the parties’ statements at the time of sentencing indicate that Jacobs worked at PSG for more than a decade, ultimately rising to be the Vice President of Employee Leadership and Development at the 2,500-employee family-run firm. PSG fired Jacobs in 2015 after an audit of his expense reports revealed that he repeatedly claimed suspicious and unverified expenses. PSG hired a forensic accounting firm to quantify the scope of the theft. The firm found Jacobs submitted more than $900,000 in dubious expenses in just his final four years with the company. Due to the lack of older records, the accountants could not assess the full scope of Jacobs’s crime.

Where records were available, PSG’s accountants and government investigators confirmed that Jacobs spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on prostitutes, luxury travel, personal electronics, firearms, and gold coins. When confronted by federal investigators, Jacobs admitted both the embezzlement and the tax fraud. He waived indictment, pleaded guilty, and promised to pay restitution of $352,441 to PSG and $81,901 to the IRS. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Brown also ordered Jacobs to pay PSG an additional $126,444.89 to reimburse the company for the cost of retaining the forensic accounting firm.

Summarizing all of the conduct, Judge Brown noted that Jacobs’s long-running criminal conduct was "shameful" but agreed that he posed little risk of committing such offenses again. To minimize that risk, Judge Brown required Jacobs to disclose to future employers that he has been convicted of wire fraud in relation to embezzling from a former employer.

"Mr. Jacobs stole from his employer, his colleagues, and the American taxpayers. The sentences imposed in this case reflect the seriousness of his crimes," noted Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, "and today’s result will serve as an important reminder that the FBI, the IRS, and the United States Attorney’s Office will work with victims to put perpetrators of financial fraud and tax cheats behind bars."

IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Darrel J. Waldon said "Mr. Jacobs’ actions victimized not only his employer, but the taxpaying citizens as well, by not paying taxes on the funds he embezzled and converted to personal use. We are pleased with the successful resolution of this investigation due to the cooperative efforts of our law enforcement partners – FBI and DOJ."

Daniel C. Occhipinti, PSG’s General Counsel, represented the company at the sentencing hearing and also commended the outcome: "This was a rogue former employee who committed a crime against our company, our team members and our entire community. We are very grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the outstanding team at the FBI for seeing that justice was done."

This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS-CI and prosecuted by Ryan W. Bounds, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.