Update on Portland Man Sentenced Earlier This Month for Defrauding His Own Company of $1.4 Million

Topics:  David Schrader, DAT Solutions

U.S. Attorney’s Office
15 October 2014

PORTLAND, OR—David Schrader, 47, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced October 1 by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Jones to 46 months in prison for the crime of wire fraud and ordered to pay over $1.4 million in restitution to DAT Solutions (formerly Transcore), the victim of his crime. As summarized in the October 2 press release on this matter, Schrader had been employed as the Senior Vice President of Operations, and had accomplished his theft by submitting false expense reports to DAT’s accounting department that either falsified or inflated the amounts for which defendant was actually entitled to receive reimbursement. As part of his fraud, Schrader forged the signature of DAT’s president, fabricated approval e-mails from the president on his fraudulent reports, and submitted false credit card statements.

At Schrader’s October 1 sentencing, Judge Jones permitted Schrader to self-surrender in January 2015 to begin serving his sentence, with the expectation that Schrader would continue his efforts to sell several pieces of real estate until that time and apply the proceeds of those sales to his restitution obligation. The government had previously filed liens on multiple properties Schrader owns in the Portland area in order to secure its interest and facilitate restitution to Schrader’s victim.

The day after Schrader’s sentencing, his attorneys contacted prosecutors to inform them that one of Schrader’s properties was owned equally by Schrader and an associate, and to request that only fifty percent of the sale proceeds be applied to Schrader’s restitution obligation, with the other fifty percent going to Schrader’s associate. After confirming that Schrader’s associate was not listed in county property records, prosecutors refused the request on the ground that Schrader’s alleged associate had no legal interest in the property, regardless of any informal arrangement the two men might have had. Schrader’s attorneys then filed a motion attaching an “ownership contract executed in March 2005” between Schrader and his associate, and requested that the Court require the government to give half of the property’s proceeds to Schrader’s associate rather than to DAT. Following this filing, the government learned from Schrader’s associate that Schrader had approached him just days after being sentenced and asked him to sign and backdate the “ownership contract.”

Schrader appeared before Judge Jones again late last week to answer for this conduct. Schrader’s attorneys attempted to withdraw the fraudulent contract from the record, but Judge Jones denied the request, indicating that it “comes a bit late.” Judge Jones then revoked Schrader’s pretrial release, finding that his conduct was a continuation of the activity he had just been sentenced for, namely that of “a liar, a cheat, and a crook.” He then ordered that Schrader be taken immediately into custody to begin serving his 46-month sentence. Judge Jones refused Schrader’s attorneys’ request that they be allowed to escort Schrader to the U.S. Marshal’s Service rather than waiting for the Marshals to arrive in the courtroom, indicating that he did not “trust him farther than I can spit.”

The investigation of this case was conducted by the FBI, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Kerin and Katie Lorenz.