The founder and former CEO of Sustainable Fuel Company, Alder Fuels, has been sentenced for embezzlement and investor fraud.
Bryan Sherbacow, 55, of South Carolina and Washington, D.C., received his sentence after the lengthy case ended. He will now face three years behind bars for an exorbitant and cavalier approach to handling company funds and for betraying investor confidence.
Alder Fuels head sentenced
Sherbacow’s fraudulent activities, which were initially discovered when he was found to have siphoned money from the company’s funds into his personal accounts, have devastated the company’s financial health and trust among its shareholders.
He also made many purchases via the company books for items that would rarely be termed a business expense.
According to the Department of Justice report, the former CEO shamelessly used the company’s funds for his personal luxuries, including a “vintage Mercedes-Benz sports car, a Range Rover sport utility vehicle, payments to an art auction operator, personal tax liens, personal credit card payments, rent payments on personal residences, payment to a beach club, electronics, and a down payment on a condo.”
To cover his tracks, Sherbacow resorted to altering bank statements and company documents. He then audaciously shared these falsified records with the company board and an outside accounting firm, betraying the trust placed in him.
Sherbacow also misled investors, showing them false and fabricated bank statements on multiple occasions. The DOJ found that he “intentionally removed transactions showing transfers from the company bank account to his personal bank account and falsified account balance information to make it appear that the company possessed more cash on hand than it possessed, due in part to Sherbacow’s unauthorized transfer of funds.”
He would also sell three investors down the river for $15 million and coerce an investor into lending the shattered company money. Sherbacow had initially pleaded guilty to wire fraud, which could carry a twenty-year stint.
However, he will remain incarcerated for three years after the sentencing for his crimes. This is a lenient approach compared to the time he could have spent behind bars for embezzling at least $5.9 million and defrauding several investors out of approximately $15 million.
Image: Ideogram.
