Former Meadowcraft CFO convicted of wire fraud

Larry Maynor to serve 2 ½ years in prison and pay $100,000

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 1/16/2012 12:03:50 PM

A federal judge sentenced former Meadowcraft CFO Larry Gene Maynor to 2 ½ years in prison for fraud totaling more than $5 million, according to a report by The Birmingham News last Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick Maley announced Maynor's sentencing in a joint statement last week.

Maynor, 48, of Birmingham, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor at a hearing at the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in downtown Birmingham, Ala. Maynor was sentenced after he had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of wire fraud.

Proctor also ordered Maynor to pay $100,000 in restitution.

Maynor must report to the U.S. Marshal or to the federal prison where he will begin serving his sentence no later than 3 p.m. on March 28.

Maynor was chief financial officer of Meadowcraft, the wrought iron furniture manufacturer based in Wadley, Ala., according to the statement from Vance and Maley.

According to authorities, fraud was charged in connection to a scheme by Maynor to misrepresent the terms of a large sales contract in order for Meadowcraft to borrow $5.1 million from four lending institutions. Meadowcraft's 2007 credit agreement with those institutions – Wells Fargo Bank, Webster Business Credit Corp., RZB Finance, and Burdale Finance Limited – specifically prohibited the manufacturer from borrowing against consignment or "sale-or-return" purchases.

"Corporate fraud damages companies and their employees, but it also hurts our community," Vance said. "When a company is weakened by fraud among its officers, it jeopardizes the job security of its workers and can destroy the livelihood of them and their families," Vance said. "These cases are serious matters we are committed to investigating and prosecuting."

Almost 2,000 people lost their jobs when the wrought iron furniture maker filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated in 2009.

According to the latest press release: Maynor misrepresented the terms of Meadowcraft's September 2008 sales contract with Outdoor Experience Inc. in order to use proceeds from the contract as collateral for the loans. In December 2008, Maynor submitted a false borrowing certificate to the lending institutions that characterized the $5.7 million agreement with Outdoor Experience as an insured account receivable. It was, however, a consignment agreement that required Meadowcraft to buy back all products that Outdoor Experience was unable to sell. The agreement signed by Maynor with the lending institutions specified that such contracts could not be loaned against.