<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Birmingham, AL -</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">2.1.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>CEO of Adams Produce Company, Scott Davis Grinstead, was charged with fraud against the company, failure to report a felony against the government, and failure to file federal income tax return, according to U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein, Jr., and IRS-Criminal Investigation Division Acting Special Agent in Charge veronica Hyman-Pillot.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/Adams_Produce_Grinstead_BODY01.jpg" alt="Cropped Images 02012013" /></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Prosecutors also filed a plea agreement with Grinstead, in which he acknowledges his guilt and agrees to plead guilty, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Grinstead also is charged with wire fraud for wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars from an Adams Produce account to American Express to pay for clothing, jewelry, personal travel for himself and his family, lawn care at his home, and items for a house on Lake Martin, according to the information.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/Adams_Produce_Grinstead_BODY02.jpg" alt="Cropped Images 02012013" /></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“This case involves the chief executive officer of a company who allowed officers and employees to continue cheating the government on contracts involving military bases and schools while, at the same time, he continued to steal from the company,” Vance said. “This plea holds him responsible for criminal acts that harmed the government and his company. We are pleased that resolution of this case will bring some compensation to the employees who lost their jobs and did not receive their final paychecks from Adams Produce,” she said. “The investigation of wrongdoing by former officers and employees continues, and any who have committed crimes will be held accountable.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The federal government, through the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, was one of Adams’ customers. The supply center contracted with Adams Produce to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to military bases, public school systems, junior colleges, and universities. Adams Produce entered into contracts with the government worth millions of dollars, according to court records.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">One of the charges against Grinstead is misprision of a felony for knowing of the fraud Pfahl and others were engaged in and allowing it to continue and end slowly, so as to avoid raising red flags with the government, rather than stopping it immediately and reporting it to authorities.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Grinstead faces two counts of failure to file a federal tax return, one for 2009 and one for 2010. The information charges that Grinstead had a gross income of about $748,801 for the 2009 calendar year and willfully failed to file an income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service. In 2010, according to the information, Grinstead received about $1,878,700 in gross income and willfully did not file a return with the IRS.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. For misprision of a felony, the maximum sentence is three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for failure to file an income tax return is one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.fbi.gov/birmingham/"target="_new">FBI</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
