$13 Million Escrow Fraud Scheme Indicted
Edgar Beaudreault, Howard Sperling and Robert Surles were indicted for fraud by a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia last week. Beaudreault, Sperling and Surles are alleged to have conspired to defraud Cornell Corrections of California, Inc., a private company which operates correctional facilities for governmental units. Specifically, the defendants are alleged to have induced Cornell Corrections to transfer $13 million, which was to be used to purchase a correctional facility being constructed in Canon City, Colorado and which was to be held in escrow, to an account in Atlanta controlled by the defendants by representing to Cornell Corrections that the account was controlled by a bank. The defendants are alleged to have subsequently transferred the $13 million to other accounts to use for their own purposes.
