Merimee sentenced to four years in prison
By James Mayse, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Merimee, 63, pleaded guilty in October to bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. At the time, Merimee was a consultant for
In addition to the charges stemming from the loan, Merimee is facing charges of not paying sales taxes at two restaurants he owned in
Merimee is also facing charges of fraudulent insurance acts over
Merimee is also being sued by the Randall Hayden and
In their suit, Hayden and Estes accuse Merimee, who was
Merimee allegedly tried to create friction between Hayden and Estes, in a "scheme to charge clients for unnecessary professional services, under the false pretense of attempting to mediate a resolution of the conflict initiated by Merimee ..." documents say. The case is ongoing in
In his statement to the court at Thursday's hearing, Merimee said he was given wrong information by others when he prepared the loan documents for
"I should have been more diligent with the information I received," Merimee said.
Merimee said McKinley should have pushed the sentencing hearing back so he could subpoena witnesses to testify.
"You didn't hear both sides of the story," Merimee said. "... (It) would appear that would be the correct thing to do prior to you passing judgment."
When McKinley said, "you recognize you defrauded the bank," Merimee replied, "I recognize the bank was defrauded by the information I received from people, not by myself."
Ford said Merimee gave U.S. bank an altered invoice from
McKinley said Merimee was not expressing remorse for his actions.
"It puzzled me initially why you would be involved with this kind of activity with a client," McKinley said. "... But we've learned you were involved with this company, they were paying for your accounting services and if they (went) under, your income is impacted.
"The things you can't change ... is you defrauded the bank and they lost
Merimee said he would reimburse
McKinley said: "The proof I heard was the inventory was overstated and so were the accounts receivable. You want to tend to blame other people and other reasons why you did that; I consider that all a part of what you did and what you're about."
Ford said a maximum sentence would "send a message."
"If think certainly if I was to give you probation, that wouldn't be much punishment or deterrent for you or anyone else," McKinley said.
In addition to 46 months in prison, McKinley ordered Merimee to spend five years on supervised release after leaving prison and to reimburse the bank for its
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