2008 Woodie Awards
Wanted executives arrested
Possible flee attempt to Aruba halted by U.S. Marshals
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: State
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The government yesterday arrested four executives convicted in a $1.9 billion fraud trial, saying they were planning to flee overseas before sentencing.
The four were in the custody of U.S. Marshals in Florida, Georgia and Columbus after their arrests yesterday morning, said Tom Gentz, supervisor of the Columbus office of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Investigators have likened the fraud case at National Century Financial Enterprises to a privately held-company version of the Enron or WorldCom scandals.
Authorities still have not found a fifth executive, Rebecca Parrett, who they said last week is missing.
The FBI said a confidential informant tipped authorities to the plot, based on information obtained from another executive awaiting trial.
That executive, National Century founder Lance Poulsen, told the informant the officials had a plan to flee to Aruba, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday.
Poulsen was convicted last month of trying to bribe a witness to change her testimony before his own National Century fraud trial this summer. He's being held in a Chillicothe jail.
Marshals took James Dierker and Roger Faulkenberry into custody in Columbus, Donald Ayers in Florida and Randolph Speer in Georgia.
A federal jury convicted the four along with Parrett last month of multiple counts of wire and securities fraud and money laundering.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley issued an arrest warrant for Parrett, a founder and former executive vice chairwoman of National Century, after she failed to report to authorities as part of the conditions under which she stayed free before sentencing.
On Tuesday, the government said in a court filing that it has learned Parrett was trying to obtain personal identity information of another person before her fraud trial began.
A hearing for the arrested defendants was scheduled before Marbley in Columbus today.
The four were in the custody of U.S. Marshals in Florida, Georgia and Columbus after their arrests yesterday morning, said Tom Gentz, supervisor of the Columbus office of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Investigators have likened the fraud case at National Century Financial Enterprises to a privately held-company version of the Enron or WorldCom scandals.
Authorities still have not found a fifth executive, Rebecca Parrett, who they said last week is missing.
The FBI said a confidential informant tipped authorities to the plot, based on information obtained from another executive awaiting trial.
That executive, National Century founder Lance Poulsen, told the informant the officials had a plan to flee to Aruba, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday.
Poulsen was convicted last month of trying to bribe a witness to change her testimony before his own National Century fraud trial this summer. He's being held in a Chillicothe jail.
Marshals took James Dierker and Roger Faulkenberry into custody in Columbus, Donald Ayers in Florida and Randolph Speer in Georgia.
A federal jury convicted the four along with Parrett last month of multiple counts of wire and securities fraud and money laundering.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley issued an arrest warrant for Parrett, a founder and former executive vice chairwoman of National Century, after she failed to report to authorities as part of the conditions under which she stayed free before sentencing.
On Tuesday, the government said in a court filing that it has learned Parrett was trying to obtain personal identity information of another person before her fraud trial began.
A hearing for the arrested defendants was scheduled before Marbley in Columbus today.
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