Georgia man sent to federal prison for defrauding county of $566,088

A Georgia man will spend just over two years in federal prison for his part in an email spoofing scheme that cost Sedgwick County more than $566,000.

George S. James, 49, of Brookhaven, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to 27 months, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Thursday.

James said that on Oct. 7 last year, Sedgwick County sent about $566,088 to his bank account at a Wells Fargo in Georgia. James transferred part of the money he received to a bank account in Shanghai, China, and to an account at Deutsche Bank in Breman, Germany, Beall said.

He also spent some of the money.

However, he denied the scheme was his idea and said that on Sept. 23, 2016, he was contacted be a person identified as A.H., who asked to deposit some money into James’ account. James said he knew that A.H. was involved in a fraud, but denied knowing that Sedgwick County was the victim, Beall said.

He said A.H. – or someone working with A.H. – sent an email to the county that day claiming to be from Cornejo & Sons, LLC, and requesting the county send future payments to a new account number at Wells Fargo.

On Oct. 7, 2016, the county paid $566,088 to what it thought was the construction company.

Records show the staff realized the company never received the money or requested an account change on Oct. 25, 2016. County staff then reported the loss to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.

Cornejo & Sons had won a $550,064.19 contract the prior June to work on the “Bond Tekk” project, part of the county’s preventative road maintenance. The project later saw an increase of $16,024.71 to bring the total cost to $566,088.90.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Georgia man sent to federal prison for defrauding county of $566,088."