Memphis, TN - The former Chief Accounting Officer for a Memphis business conglomerate was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.
Jim Tyson "Ty" Jenkins, 46, pleaded guilty in April to mail fraud. According to information presented in court at the time of his guilty plea, Jenkins, the former Chief Accounting Officer for Blake Enterprises, defrauded Blake and an affiliate company, Reliable Finance, of approximately $1.1 million between 2011 and March 2017. Jenkins carried out the fraud by authorizing loans against the cash values of life insurance policies issued by Voya Financial and owned by the Reliable Finance retirement plan.
In addition to his duties as CAO, Jenkins was administrator for Reliable’s retirement plan. Jenkins contacted Voya and requested loans against the policies. Voya mailed loan proceeds checks to Reliable. Jenkins deposited the checks to Reliable bank accounts at First Tennessee Bank and InSouth Bank. Jenkins, who was authorized to transact business on the accounts, thereafter stole the funds by writing checks payable to himself, depositing them to his personal account at Regions Bank, and using the funds for his personal benefit.
On July 28, 2017, the Honorable John T. Fowlkes Jr., sentenced Jenkins to 33 months in federal prison. As part of his sentence, Jenkins was also ordered to pay $999,020.82 in restitution and serve a 3-year term of supervised release following his release from prison.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Carroll L. Andre III prosecuted this case on the government’s behalf.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
