Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Department of Justice
United States Attorney James R. Dedrick Eastern District of Tennessee
FORMER OWNER OF TRUCKING BUSINESS SENTENCED TO 46 MONTHS ON FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING, AND FALSE TAX RETURN CHARGES
KNOXVILLE, Tenn--Joseph Dean Brandenburg, former owner of Extreme Logistics, LLC, was setenced to 46 months imprisonment following Brandenburg’s conviction on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and submitting false tax returns.
Brandenburg pled guilty on March 23, 2009 to perpetrating a wire fraud scheme from June 2004 into July 2005 in which he submitted fraudulent invoices in order to obtain funding from Prime Financial Services, a subsidiary of Suntrust Bank. Prime Financial Services had agreed to advance funds to Extreme Logistics based upon Extreme Logistics’ submission of invoices for loads that Extreme Logistics had hauled. Brandenburg’s fraudulent invoices represented that loads had been hauled for various customers when, in fact, they had not. At the time the fraud was discovered by Prime Financial Services, the total amount of fraudulent invoices exceeded $3.6 million.
Brandenburg also had pled guilty to laundering the proceeds of the fraud scheme through another business that he controlled to use the fraud proceeds for his personal benefit, including making substantial improvements to his personal residence in Loudon County. Among other things, Brandenburg used the proceeds of the fraud to construct a large swimming pool, sand volleyball court, basketball court, and a motocross track at his home. The total amount of Brandenburg’s money laundering exceeded $1 million. Additionally, Brandenburg pled guilty to submitting false tax returns for the years 2004 through 2006 by failing to claim the income that he received from the money laundering on his Federal income tax returns.
The sentence requires Brandenburg to pay in excess of $3 million in restitution to Suntrust Bank and the Internal Revenue Service. Brandenburg will be required to serve five years on supervised release after serving his term of imprisonment. No fine was imposed due to Brandenburg’s current inability to pay a fine.
This case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
