SC man stole nearly $5 million from employer in wire fraud scheme, prosecutor says
A South Carolina man is facing a potentially long prison sentence for stealing nearly $5 million from the business where he worked, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Robert Namath Emory, a 54-year-old Lancaster resident, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after embezzling millions of dollars from his employer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.
Emory faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, restitution and three years of supervision following any time that he is behind bars, according to the release.
U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis will sentence Emory after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report from the U.S. Probation Office.
An investigation by both the FBI Columbia Field Office and the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office showed that Emory was the head of the accounting department for Mar Mac Protective Apparel, a company in McBee that makes hazardous materials (HAZMAT) suits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Mar Mac used an invoice system that attached a blank, physical check to invoices of large vendors, but would submit payment electronically, according to the release. Mar Mac used check numbers internally and never submitted them to the bank, thereby avoiding using duplicate checks numbers, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Beginning in January 2016, Emory would exploit a flaw in this system by doubling the amount of the invoices, making an electronic payment to the vendor and then use the check numbers to write physical checks to himself or his personal LLC,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the release.
Information about what Emory did with the money was not available. There was no word about how Emory’s scheme was discovered, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he was previously convicted of wire fraud in 2008.
Chesterfield County court records show that Emory is facing 20 pending state charges for breach of trust and forgery from a series of arrests in July and August of 2023.
The federal case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Winston Holliday and Scott Matthews. Rock Hill attorney Michael Matthews is listed as Emory’s lawyer, according to Chesterfield County court records.
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This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 10:07 AM with the headline "SC man stole nearly $5 million from employer in wire fraud scheme, prosecutor says."
