Daniel Fruits has been charged with fraud by a federal grand jury after stealing more than 14 million dollars from his employer.
In 2015 an investor founded Secure Transit, a trucking company in Indiana, and hired Fruits to run the business. During the next four years the owner of the company invested 14 million dollars in his company, based on information presented by Fruits. Fruits lied about the company’s financial health, who its customers were, and what the money invested was being used for. He sent the owner fictitious customer sales contracts and falsified financial statements that inflated company profits. Simultaneously, Fruits asked the owner for multiple investments, in the millions of dollars, for the purchase of trucks and other business purchases that were never made.
Fruits spent the majority of the money on personal expenses, including $880,000 on a horse farm and a personal residence, $560,000 on an RV and trailer, $111,000 on a Corvette, $90,000 on three Rolex watches, $55,000 on a horse, $33,000 on a horse trailer, $23,000 on payments for two Ferraris, and $30,000 for two escorts. He faces up to 25 years in prison.