North Carolina Man Sentenced for Conspiring to Defraud Massachusetts-Based Uniform Supply Company

BOSTON – A North Carolina man was sentenced yesterday in connection with a scheme to defraud his former employer, a Massachusetts-based uniform-supply company, by falsifying invoices.

Keith Smedley, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to three years in prison and one year of supervised release. Smedley was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,548,467 and forfeiture of $500,000. On June 8, 2021, Smedley pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.

Between approximately 1998 and March 2019, Smedley and others defrauded the uniform-supply company by causing the company to pay fake invoices for products that were not actually delivered, and by diverting other products that they re-sold for their own benefit. In addition, Smedley and his co-conspirators created a fake supply company and caused the uniform-supply company to pay more than $1.5 million in fraudulent invoices for purported products that he knew would never be delivered or used. 

Smedley is the second former employee of the uniform-supply company to be sentenced in connection with the conspiracy. Co-conspirator Richard Ritz was sentenced on Sept. 8, 2021 to 21 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Co-conspirator Brian Halpern pleaded guilty in August 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 16, 2021.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara Miron Bloom and Ian Stearns of Mendell’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.