Man steals $760,000 from FedEx by claiming packages were never delivered, feds say

A man scammed FedEx into paying him more than $760,000 by claiming packages he shipped were never delivered as part of a yearslong scheme in which he sought bogus reimbursements from the company, federal prosecutors said.

Now the 46-year-old Orlando, Florida, resident has pleaded guilty to mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee announced in an Oct. 28 news release.

A federal public defender representing the man didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Oct. 29.

How the scheme worked

Between June 2015 and September 2018, the man shipped packages with “worthless goods” through FedEx, according to prosecutors.

In doing so, he filled out FedEx airbills, which are forms for customers to declare information about an item being shipped, such as an item’s value, his indictment says.

The man inflated the value of the items inside at least 96 packages when filling out the airbills and claimed the goods were worth $2,900 or more when they weren’t, according to the indictment.

Then he’d report to FedEx that the packages weren’t delivered and sought reimbursement for the items he had overvalued, prosecutors said.

The man submitted multiple fraudulent invoices to FedEx and stole $764,250 from the company after FedEx repeatedly reimbursed him with money he wasn’t owed, according to prosecutors.

His “case serves as a reminder that fraud and the pursuit of quick gains can come with severe consequences,” Tommy D. Coke, the inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Atlanta Division, said in a statement.

The man is facing up to 20 years in prison and a potential $250,000 fine, prosecutors said. He could also be ordered to pay the same amount he stole in restitution.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Man steals $760,000 from FedEx by claiming packages were never delivered, feds say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.