No more 12,000 square foot home but a spartan bunk bed

Nashville, TN

What happened here? "According to the feds...Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that STEVEN RAWLINS, a former Chief Financial Officer to two healthcare services companies based outside Nashville, Tennessee, was sentenced to nine years in prison and $10,110,577.09 in forfeiture for engaging in a scheme to defraud that yielded over $10 million in ill-gotten gains.  On November 16, 2016, following an 11-day trial conducted before U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan, a jury found that RAWLINS, as the acting Chief Financial Officer for both privately-held healthcare companies, abused his authority to withdraw company funds for payment of legitimate business expenses and tax obligations by, among other things, using such funds to pay personal expenses incurred by RAWLINS, his family, and his associates.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Steven Rawlins abused his trusted position as CFO with two healthcare companies to steal more than a combined $10 million from them.  As was established at trial, Rawlins spent the money he stole lavishly on himself, his family, and his friends, paying for a 12,000-square-foot home, Tiffany jewelry, several sports cars, and luxury suites at sporting events.”

According to the Criminal Information filed on June 16, 2015, other court documents, and the evidence presented at trial:

In or around 2005, RAWLINS was retained as an outside consultant by a private healthcare services company, which is headquartered in Tennessee (“Company-1”), to assist with financing and accounting matters.  RAWLINS’s responsibilities included securing financing for Company-1 and facilitating tax payments.  During that time period, RAWLINS was retained by another private healthcare services company, which at the time had operations in Florida and New York (“Company-2”), to perform a similar role.  As part of his responsibilities, RAWLINS was authorized to bill both Company-1 and Company-2 for legitimate business expenses incurred in connection with his services.  By 2009, RAWLINS had been appointed as acting Chief Financial Officer for both companies.

RAWLINS abused his authority to withdraw company funds and ultimately misappropriated more than $10 million, which he used to pay personal expenses incurred by himself, his family, and his associates.  For instance, as part of his responsibilities as a consultant to Company-1, RAWLINS represented that he would make the necessary tax payments owed by Company-1 to the State of Tennessee.  From 2011 to 2012, RAWLINS withdrew approximately $850,000 from Company-1’s bank accounts, purportedly in order to pay Company-1’s outstanding tax liabilities to Tennessee.  In reality, during that time period, Company-1 owed less than $85,000 in applicable Tennessee state taxes; RAWLINS converted the vast majority of the funds to his own use.  Moreover, from 2011 to 2013, RAWLINS caused approximately $4 million to be withdrawn from a Company-1 bank account in order to pay bills associated with RAWLINS’s American Express credit card accounts.  Those American Express accounts were in turn used to pay for numerous personal expenses incurred by RAWLINS, or those associated with him, including payments to a real estate development company that built RAWLINS a 12,000-square-foot home; payments for luxury suite access for the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, and New York Yankees; payments for Tiffany jewelry; and payments to car dealerships including Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, and Mercedes.

Evidence at trial established that, as part of the criminal scheme, Rawlins also defrauded or attempted to defraud additional victims, including the founders of a start-up construction firm from whom he obtained $67,000; a restaurant company owner from whom he obtained a $1.3 million loan; and the owner of a factoring company from whom he attempted to obtain a $1.3 million advance.  The evidence established that Rawlins used forged and fabricated documents in order to deceive several of his victims.

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RAWLINS, 59, of Brentwood, Tennessee, was sentenced to nine years in prison, $10,110,577.09 in forfeiture, and a $100 special assessment.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

 Mr. Rawlins will not be living like a movie star, but more like a homeless person in a locked shelter as he must do 87.5 percent of the time behind bars. Hopefully, his security level is low enough so he can be in a federal camp where there are no barbed wires.

It is not easy for a 59 year old man to go to jail.  At least he was given less than a dime (ten years). Hopefully his family won't abandon him. Remember, prison can happen to anyone, especially in America where many of our actions are criminal. 

To learn more about federal prison, read my story at...https://www.amazon.com/PRISON-expect-Federal-Bureau-Prisons-ebook/dp/B011GTWLOG