Greenwood man headed to prison after $14.3 million theft

A Greenwood man will serve six years in federal prison. That’s after embezzling more than $14 million from his employer, while managing a trucking company.

According to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office for the Southern Indiana District, 47-year-old Daniel Fruits was sentenced yesterday for wire fraud and money laundering. According to the prosecutor, a Kentucky group invested money into the trucking company from January 2015 to June 2019, but Fruits siphoned off the funds, using them to purchase real estate, vehicles including two Ferraris and a Corvette, farm equipment, a show horse, jewelry, firearms, private jet flights and escort services.

Authorities say that Fruits then produced false financial documents to bring in more investments to the trucking company. Fruits even fabricated a report from an accountant to cover his tracks.

As part of his sentence, Fruits is ordered to pay $14.3 million in restitution to his victims and a $14.3 million in a judgment.