Federal Prosecutors Charge Birmingham CPA in $11 Million Embezzlement

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/federal-prosecutors-charge-birmingham-cpa-11-million-embezzlement

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Alabama

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 30, 2017

Federal Prosecutors Charge Birmingham CPA in $11 Million Embezzlement

BIRMINGHAM – Federal prosecutors today charged a Birmingham man in connection with an $11 million embezzlement scheme from a Shelby County scrap metal brokerage company where he was the chief financial officer, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger Stanton. In a five-count information filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged THOMAS L. HINSON JR., 69, with five counts of wire fraud for depositing checks stolen from Strickland Trading Inc., where he worked as CFO, into the account of Strickland Trading Company, LLC, a company Hinson formed for the purpose of perpetrating his scheme.

The five wire fraud counts represent five of the more than 225 checks totaling more than $11.2 million that were intended for Strickland Trading Inc., but which Hinson deposited into his Strickland Trading Company, LLC, account, between April 2007 and April 2016, according to the information. The defendant used the money he embezzled from Strickland Trading Inc. over the years to pay expenses and purchase real estate, automobiles, and other assets for himself, his family and friends.

In conjunction with the charges, prosecutors filed a plea agreement with Hinson in which he acknowledges the embezzlement and agrees to plead guilty to the fraud charges. He also agrees to pay restitution of $11.2 million and to forfeit his interest in properties in Huntsville, Birmingham, Virginia Beach, Va., Lutz. Fla., and Sevierville, Tenn.
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