March 10, 2017

The SEC charged two former executives at credit card processing company iPayment with masterminding a fraudulent scheme to steal millions of dollars through phony expense reimbursements, inflated invoices, and other improper accounting tactics.  The SEC’s complaint alleges that iPayment’s then Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Nasir N. Shakouri and then-Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Robert S. Torino routinely reimbursed themselves for payments that were never actually made to third-party vendors using their personal credit cards.  They also allegedly conspired with vendors to inflate invoices and receive kickbacks from the overpayments, and claimed improper commissions and bonuses related to other corporate funds they improperly diverted in various ways.  The SEC’s complaint also charges three other iPayment executives – Bronson L. Quon, John S. Hong, and Jonathan K. Skarie – with participating in the scheme and helping Shakouri and Torino falsify books and records to hide the theft of corporate funds.  Quoon, Hong, and Skarie were allegedly rewarded for their assistance with missapropriated iPayment funds.  According to the SEC’s complaint, the scheme caused approximately $11.6 million in damages. SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Misrepresentations, Securities Fraud,