logo
Tacoma man convicted of embezzling $2 million from his former employer headed to prison

Tacoma man convicted of embezzling $2 million from his former employer headed to prison

Yahoo13-03-2025

A Tacoma man who embezzled over $2 million from an online car-sales company he worked for faces more than 11 years in prison, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
John Whisenant, 42, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday for wire fraud, scheming to defraud his employer and fleeing from law enforcement prior to his sentencing, the release said. Whisenant also was convicted in federal court for wire fraud in 2017 and for multiple credit card and check fraud crimes in state court over the last 20 years.
The release gave the following details of the events leading up to Whisenant's sentencing:
Whisenant began working for an online used-car sales company in October 2018. About a year later, he was promoted to a position that allowed him to access the company's bank accounts and accounting software.
Using that access, Whisenant transferred over $2 million from the business to his personal accounts from around June 2019 to November 2021. He made 57 wire transfers, disguising them as legitimate business expenses by making false entries in the company's books. Prosecutors wrote that his actions ''traumatized' his coworkers ... destabilized (the company's finances and inflicted significant financial hardship on its largest shareholder, his family, and other investors,' according to the release.
Records filed in the case indicate Whisenant spent some of the money on luxury cars, including Porches and Mercedes, a 2022 Audi E-Tron and a Tesla, along with renting luxury homes in Southern California and buying two $23,000 airline tickets to Paris. He spent over $1 million paying off credit-card debt.
Whisenant's activities were discovered when a bookkeeper started 'a more comprehensive review of the company's financials in January 2022,' the release said. Whisenant resigned from his position in February 2022.
Law enforcement arrested Whisenant in July 2023, and he pleaded guilty in March 2024. Before his scheduled sentencing in July 2024, he emailed his pretrial-services officer with the message, 'I'm not ready to go to jail yet,' according to the release. Whisenant then attempted to evade police, hiding his whereabouts by swapping out the SIM card in his phone and supporting himself by dealing drugs, including methamphetamine, GHB, Viagra and other pills, according to the news release.
He has agreed to pay back the full balance of his embezzled frauds at $2,084,779, according to the release.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

CNBC Daily Open: Headwinds don't seem to bother the U.S. stock market
CNBC Daily Open: Headwinds don't seem to bother the U.S. stock market

CNBC

time23 minutes ago

  • CNBC

CNBC Daily Open: Headwinds don't seem to bother the U.S. stock market

The U.S. stock market appears a little too optimistic. All three major indexes climbed Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite enjoying their third consecutive session in the green. The S&P, in fact, is around 2% away from its all-time high, which it reached in February. That's despite the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs still haunting the economy. As the 90-day tariff pause ticks down, America, so far, has just one deal, struck with the U.K., and an agreement with China that, while reaffirmed by both sides after two days of negotiations in London, is still preliminary and keeps tariffs at double-digit levels. Corporations are seemingly bracing for economic fallout already. Layoffs have been accelerating this year. Google and Paramount on Tuesday joined Microsoft, Citigroup and Disney in announcing headcount cuts. (However, it should be noted that layoffs, rather perversely, tend to push up stock prices because they are a cost-cutting measure.) And the bond market, the sterner sibling of the stock market, might put a check on investor enthusiasm. If there are unexpected results from U.S. inflation data and Treasury auctions on Wednesday and Thursday, yields could rise again, not only putting pressure on stocks, but also the broader economy in terms of higher borrowing costs. The stock market, then, seems to be betting on more trade breakthroughs and favorable inflation data. But the bond market and CEOs might not be so sure about that. U.S. and China reach trade frameworkThe U.S. and China have reached an agreement on trade, representatives from both sides said Tuesday after a second day of high-level talks in London. The deal now awaits a nod from the leaders of the two countries. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated U.S. restrictions on sales of advanced tech to China in recent weeks would be rolled back as Beijing approves rare-earth exports. S&P 500 notches three-day win streakU.S. stocks rose Wednesday. The S&P 500 advanced 0.55% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.63%, the third day of gains for both indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.25%. Asia-Pacific markets climbed Wednesday on optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.92% and mainland China's CSI 300 rose 0.77% at 1:30 p.m. Singapore time. Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi was up 1%, hitting its highest level since January 2022. Musk announces robotaxi launchElon Musk said Tuesday Tesla's robotaxi service is "tentatively" set to launch in Austin, Texas, on June 22. Earlier in the day, Tesla shares rose 5.7% to close at $326.09, leaving the stock about $6 short of where it was trading last Wednesday, when it sank 14% after CEO Musk publicly feuded with Trump. The jump came after Musk shared a video on X showing that Tesla was testing driverless vehicles on the roads of Austin. Bond market in focus The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on May's consumer prices on Wednesday, then producer prices on Thursday. At the same time, the government will hold sales of long-duration Treasurys on the same days. Together, those results could have important implications for the direction of the economy and the reaction of the Federal Reserve and its approach to interest rate policy, reported CNBC's Jeff Cox. Meta to invest $14 billion in Scale AIMark Zuckerberg is so frustrated with Meta's standing in artificial intelligence that he's finalizing a deal to invest $14 billion into Scale AI, which would bring its CEO Alexandr Wang into Meta's fold, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Scale AI helps major tech companies like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft prepare data they use to train cutting-edge AI models. Google offers buyoutsGoogle on Tuesday offered buyouts to employees in several divisions. Affected units include knowledge and information — which houses the company's search, ads and commerce divisions — and central engineering units as well as marketing, research and communications teams, CNBC has learned. Google has done multiple buyout offers in a few units this year, making it a preferred strategy to reduce headcount. [PRO] Tesla shares to drop 60%: Wells FargoEven though investors were enthused by the prospect of Tesla rolling out its robotaxi service in the future, Wells Fargo analysts think that feature won't be able to offset the company's weak sales that will trend "meaningfully weaker." The bank expects Tesla's shares to plunge around 63% from Tuesday's close. AI hits an already weak jobs market in China China's eagerness to adopt artificial intelligence comes just as economic growth is slowing, putting millions of routine jobs at risk. "I'm planning to get rid of 360 [Security Technology's] entire marketing department. This way the company can save tens of millions a year," founder and chair Zhou Hongyi said in a Chinese-language video on Friday night, translated by CNBC. It's since been viewed more than 191,000 times on popular Chinese platform Weibo alone. Whether or not it's just another sales ploy by Zhou, who goes by the moniker "Red Shirt Big Uncle Zhou Hongyi," the video captures an emerging reality: Companies pressured to cut costs may increasingly replace jobs with AI.

Elon Musk just dropped a tentative date for Tesla's robotaxi launch
Elon Musk just dropped a tentative date for Tesla's robotaxi launch

Business Insider

time34 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

Elon Musk just dropped a tentative date for Tesla's robotaxi launch

Musk said on Tuesday evening, in response to a user on X, that Tesla will begin offering rides to the public "Tentatively, June 22." However, he noted that it's not a date set in stone. "We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift," Musk wrote. "First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28." Musk previously said that the initial rollout would include 10 to 20 driverless Model Y vehicles and would remain within geo-fenced areas of Austin, meaning the vehicles wouldn't be able to travel through every corner of the city. While Musk set June as a target month for the launch, the CEO has never specified a day until now. Earlier today, Musk appeared to confirm one of the first sightings of a Tesla robotaxi in Austin by responding to a video floating around on X. The video showed a Tesla Model Y carrying a passenger without a human behind the wheel. The car was emblazoned with the "Robotaxi" logo on the right door panel. "These are unmodified Tesla cars coming straight from the factory, meaning that every Tesla coming out of our factories is capable of unsupervised self-driving," Musk said on X. In a follow-up post on X, Musk suggested Austin was a better city than Los Angeles to start out a robotaxi service, writing: "Austin > > LA for robotaxi launch lol." The CEO didn't specify yet why Austin is more preferable, but, in general, Texas has fewer regulations around autonomous vehicles, and is far less dense than Los Angeles, with about a quarter of the population of the southern California city. A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. With Tesla tentatively set to offer driverless rides to the public later this month, Austin has become a sort of battleground for robotaxis. Since March, Waymo has been offering autonomous rides through the Uber platform. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during the first-quarter earnings call in May that the fleet of about 100 Waymo robotaxis is "now busier than over 99% of all drivers in Austin in terms of complete trips per day." In California, humans were quick to adopt robotaxis, as Waymo increased the number of paid rides from about 12,000 in August 2023 to 708,180 rides in March 2025. In total, Waymo provided more than 5 million rides in three years, according to data from the California Public Utilities Commission. A Waymo spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Musk said that the ramp-up for Tesla's robotaxi service will be quick. In an interview with CNBC, the CEO said that there will "probably" be 1,000 robotaxis within a few months. By the end of 2026, Musk predicted there could be more than one million self-driving Teslas in the US. Musk often misses his own deadlines. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein previously told BI that Musk's 2026 guidance is "a bit optimistic." "I think they'll get there, but I think the software is going to take more iterations than they're anticipating once they start testing a real robotaxi service," he said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store