Greenville Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon stated today that Timothy L. Ware, age 52, of Greenville, pled guilty in federal court in Anderson, to wire fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252A.  United States District Judge Timothy M. Cain, of Anderson, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Seaboard Corporation (“Seaboard”) intended to wire $352,929 (“the Funds”) to Advantage Ford Commercial Sales (“Advantage”) related to a legitimate business transaction.  Unbeknownst to either Seaboard or Advantage, an Advantage email account was compromised and instructions were sent to Seaboard to wire the Funds to a Branch Banking & Trust (“BB&T”) account in the custody and control of Ware.  On July 8, 2016, the Funds were wired from Seaboard to the BB&T account of Ware.

On July 8, 2016, Ware began transferring the Funds from his BB&T account to accounts at the Bank of Travelers Rest and Navy Federal Credit Union. On that same day Ware withdrew $40,000 in cash from his BB&T account.  Similarly, Ware obtained three BB&T cashier checks in the amounts of $87,500, $52,500, and $87,500, respectively.

The case was investigated by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.