North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty in $2.7 Million South Florida Employee Benefit Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Jeff Atwater, Chief Financial Officer, Florida Department of Financial Services, announce that defendant Carl Dale Fuller, 52, of Wake Forest, North Carolina, pled guilty to a charge of mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud National Employer Services (NES), located in Avon Park, Florida.

Fuller entered his plea of guilty to count one of an indictment charging the defendant with devising a scheme and artifice to defraud NES out of more than $2.7 million over a three-year period. The indictment charged that Fuller, posing as David Walters, defrauded NES. NES is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), providing cost-effective services for businesses that outsource employee benefits, payroll, workers compensation and other human resource functions. NES is required to obtain and maintain workers compensation coverage for all employees under Florida Statute 440.10(g).

According to the indictment, from around March 2005 through August 2008, Fuller pretended to be David Walters and claimed to be an insurance agent and the owner of Southeast Services, Inc. Fuller fraudulently represented that he had obtained insurance coverage for NES and began collecting payments from NES for his services. In this way, Fuller caused checks to be sent from NES in Avon Park, Florida, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to an account which Fuller controlled.

Sentencing has been scheduled for February 10, 2012 before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham. At sentencing, Fuller faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a mandatory order for restitution in the amount of at least $2.7 million.

Mr. Ferrer commended the efforts of the FBI and Florida’s Department of Financial Services. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen L. Cohen and Emalyn H. Webber.