The former CFO of a Gonzales-based limited liability company that operated 30 Popeyes’ Fried Chicken restaurants in the South has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after he was convicted of wire fraud and embezzlement, U.S. Attorney Walt Green announced today.
U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles sentenced William “Wil” Ros, the former CFO of Fundamental Provisions LLC, to 45 months in prison, and Ros must repay the $966,257 he embezzled, according to a news release from Green’s office.
Fundamental Provisions LLC operated Popeyes’ Fried Chicken restaurants in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, with gross annual revenues of more than $20 million.
The news release says Ros defrauded Fundamental between August 2009 and May 2012 by coercing the company’s restaurant managers to take money from the cash registers and have the bills delivered to him or deposited into bank accounts he controlled.
At other times, Ros had the money sent to his girlfriend, his golf club supplier and a family friend, the news release says.
Ros also allegedly forced the managers to record fake purchases to mask the money’s removal, the news release says. Ros allegedly used the money to buy a $225,000 race car and upgrade, renovate and furnish his Florida home.
Fundamental Provisions filed for, and received, bankruptcy protection in 2009 in an effort to reorganize its management structure and debt. However, the company was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in March 2012, and a trustee was appointed to liquidate the company’s assets.
