Former North Carolina CFO sentenced to 41 months in prison for $2M fraud

SAMUEL ALLEN MOUZON, age 62, of Lexington, North Carolina, was sentenced to a 41-month term of imprisonment by the Honorable Catherine C. Eagles, United States District Judge in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. In addition to prison time, MOUZON was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay a $5,000 fine and a special assessment of $100.00. A $500,000.00 forfeiture money judgment was also entered against the defendant. He pleaded guilty on June 29, 2022, to wire fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.

According to court records, MOUZON worked as the chief financial officer of a company in High Point for approximately twenty years. Between approximately December 2018 and February 2021, MOUZON embezzled approximately $2,038,285 for his own personal benefit and to fund purchases for himself and his family without the company's knowledge or approval. During this time, the company received approximately $750,000 in federal pandemic relief funding. The Court ordered MOUZON to pay $2,038,285.66 in restitution to the victim company and an insurance company from which the victim company recovered a portion of the total loss.

In related civil and administrative proceedings, the United States forfeited numerous items of real and personal property that MOUZON paid for with proceeds of the offense, including several bank and investment accounts, a lake-front residence in Lexington, a second residence and two building lots in the same Lexington development, a condominium in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, two 2020 Jeep Wranglers, a 2020 GMC Yukon Denali, two boats, two 2017 jet skis, a 2021 Polaris four-wheeler, and two golf carts.

"Corporate executives who steal from their employers will be prosecuted in the Middle District of North Carolina, where our prosecutors will seek active prison sentences," said U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston. "With the unprecedented flow of federal dollars used to support businesses during the pandemic, the need for these prosecutions has never been greater."

"Stealing from your employer and taking advantage of the Nation's lifeline to small businesses impacted by the pandemic for personal gain is reprehensible," said SBA OIG's Eastern Region Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite. "Our office will aggressively pursue evidence of wrongdoing and bring those responsible to justice. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and commitment to seeing justice served."

The investigation was jointly undertaken by the United States Secret Service and the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Small Business Administration. The civil case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lynne Klauer. The criminal case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tanner Kroeger and Ashley Waid.

Updated October 25, 2022