Men Get Prison, Must Repay $5 Million for Defrauding Staffing Firms

Six men received lengthy prison sentences and were ordered to pay $5.0 million in restitution for defrauding 42 staffing firms, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado reported. Five of the men received sentences of more than 10 years while a sixth was sentenced to more than seven years.

All six were found guilty in a three-week trial that ended Oct. 20, 2011, with the six representing themselves in court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sentencings began last week, and the last sentencing took place July 30.

The six defendants sentenced are:

• David Banks, sentenced to 135 months in federal prison
• Demetrius Harper, sentenced to 121 months
• Gary Walker, sentenced to 135 months
• Clinton Stewart, sentenced to 121 months
• David Zirpolo, sentenced to 121 months
• Kendrick Barnes, sentenced to 87 months

Each defendant was taken into custody after sentencing.

Banks and the co-defendants were developing a software program they claimed would help law enforcement agencies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They acted through companies known as Leading Team Inc., IRP Solutions Corp.and DKH in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The six used staffing firms to payroll employees despite having no source of income to pay staffing firms, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. In many cases, a defendant would report hours to a staffing firm while another defendant approved those hours for payment by the staffing firm.

The incidents occurred from October 2002 to February 2005, according to the indictment in the case.

When staffing firms billed the defendants’ firms, they did not receive payment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The scheme also included submitting time cards containing false information to staffing firms.

Defendants defrauded staffing firms of $5.1 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.

“The sentences handed down to these defendants appropriately reflect the seriousness of the specific crimes they committed,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge James Yacone. “The number of victims and amount of loss were significant. Hopefully, this will serve as a deterrent to others contemplating such crimes in the future.”

Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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