Florida Man Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Steal Polymers that Caused Losses of More Than $4.1 Million

CLEVELAND – A Parkland, Florida, man pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023,  to devising a scheme that defrauded several companies involved in the sale of polymers, including one business in Northeast Ohio, and multiple logistic companies, causing losses of more than $4.1 million.

According to court documents, from July 2013 to January 2020, Terrence Anderson, 66, devised a scheme to steal shipments of polymers from businesses involved in the sale of the chemicals.  The scheme was achieved, in part, by fraudulently obtaining services from logistic companies involved in processing rail shipments.

Court documents show that Anderson owned and operated Coral Polymers, a corporation headquartered in Parkland that bought and resold polymers.  As part of the scheme, Anderson would pose as fictional employees of well-known large corporations and contact sellers of polymers, including one company in Northeast Ohio, to facilitate large purchases of the substances, which were to be delivered by railcar to victim logistics companies at particular locations. 

Contrary to his representations, court documents state that Anderson never intended to pay for the polymers but rather sought to resell them to third-party buyers.  Court documents show that Anderson submitted purchase orders for shipments worth approximately $4,855,312 from at least eight sellers and obtained shipments worth more than $3.7 million from six of those sellers.

After ordering the polymers, Anderson arranged for victim logistics companies to unload the railcars, store the substances, repackage, and load them for shipment to their final destination.  In addition, court documents show that Anderson enlisted the services of a co-conspirator who owned a trucking company.  In an attempt to conceal the identity of the trucking company and the vehicle drivers, Anderson and the co-conspirator directed drivers picking up the shipments in semi-trailer trucks to remove or conceal vehicle license plates, provide fake identification documents if prompted, and to conceal from the logistics companies the true destinations of the deliveries. 

Court documents state that Anderson, using Coral Polymers, had instead arranged to resell the shipments to third-party buyers for substantial sums of money, concealing from those buyers the true origin of the polymers.

In total, court records show that Anderson caused losses of more than $4.1 million to the victims he defrauded. 

This case was investigated by the Cleveland Division of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Morrison.