The former president of Nashville-based Omnis Health pleaded guilty last week to embezzling $763,887 from the company and evading taxes.
U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee (pictured above) said 50-year-old Robert Burton was charged in February with wire fraud and tax evasion related to his embezzlement scheme. Burton was the president of Omnis Health, which sells diabetic testing kits, from July 2013 to May 2017.
According to court documents from the case, Burton admitted to embezzling approximately $763,887 from Omnis by submitting false and fraudulent reimbursement requests to the controller of Omnis, claiming that he had purchased supplies and incurred travel expenses which he had not. To justify his reimbursement requests, Burton fabricated receipts to include with his fraudulent reimbursement requests.
A “large portion of his scheme” consisted of submitting reimbursement requests for diabetic testing products, falsely claiming he had purchased those products. According to Cochran, Burton never actually purchased the supplies, but instead visited multiple online vendors, placed products in his online shopping cart, printed screenshots of his shopping cart, and then attached those screenshots as “receipts” on his reimbursement requests.
All in all, he was reimbursed for at least $484,328 of supplies that he never actually purchased.
Burton also admitted to frequently submitting false travel expense reimbursements and travel advances. He was reimbursed for approximately $203,747 in flights that he never took.
“Similar to how he falsified his expense reports for diabetic testing supplies, Burton would visit an airline’s website, print an itinerary that displayed a cost for the flight, and submit that as the receipt without ever purchasing the flights,” Cochran’s office said.
According to court documents, Burton often used the embezzled funds for gambling and submitted false income information on his personal tax returns.
He faces up to 20 years in prison on the charge of wire fraud and up to five years in prison on the charge of tax evasion. His sentencing is scheduled for August 28.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
