Two Louisiana Men Plead Guilty and Face Prison Time and a $250,000 Fine for Defrauding Their Employer out of Millions of Dollars

Two Louisiana men have pleaded guilty and now face prison time and up to a $250,000 fine for defrauding their employer out of millions of dollars.

Shreveport, Louisiana. – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that William Ross Hickman, 48, of Arcadia, Louisiana, and Brian K. Whiteman, 47, of Haughton, Louisiana, have each pleaded guilty to a Bill of Information charging them with conspiracy to commit fraud against the United States. United States District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote presided over the hearing.

According to evidence presented in court, Hickman and Whiteman were involved in a defrauding scheme that began prior to 2018 and involved Raeford Farms of Louisiana, LLC (Raeford Farms), where Hickman was the Sales Manager and Whiteman was the Assistant Sales Manager of their Arcadia production plant. Raeford Farms sells a variety of items, including fresh and frozen chicken, as well as chicken frames. A chicken frame is the core of the chicken that remains after the breasts, thighs, wings, and legs have been processed. Hickman negotiated the sale of these chicken products in order to obtain the largest potential profit.

While working at Raeford Farms, Hickman devised a strategy to defraud the company by utilizing Group 7792 as an intermediary to obtain chicken frames from Raeford Farms. Hickman used his position as Sales Manager to give preferential sales terms to other companies at the expense of Raeford Farms. Hickman had a pre-arranged agreement with an unnamed individual and his corporation to sell the chicken frames to Heritage Food Sales (Heritage), another company under Hickman’s supervision. Heritage paid Group 7792 a guaranteed return on each transaction, but never took custody of the chicken frames or contributed value to the deal. Hickman would then profitably sell the same chicken frames to a poultry distributor in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

To advance the defrauding scam, Hickman and those working with him issued bills via email from Arcadia, Louisiana, via interstate commerce, for Heritage to receive payment for the chicken frames. Hickman and Whiteman worked together to conceal Heritage from Raeford Farms’ involvement in these chicken framing transactions. As Raeford Farms’ Assistant Sales Manager, Whiteman was in charge of inventory management and shipment details. This type of information was provided to Hickman by Whiteman in order to enhance the conspiracy to deceive in order to obtain a greater price for chicken frame loads sold by Heritage. Whiteman understood and agreed with Hickman that Heritage would pay him through his own business entity, All Trade Enterprise, LLC (All Trade), in exchange for his participation in the fraud scheme. Hickman would pay Whiteman a monthly commission through All Trade and on occasion directly to him. Raeford Farms suffered a loss of about $2,183,950 as a result of the transactions executed during the time period of this investigation.

Hickman and Whiteman each face up to 5 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. The sentencing date has been set on July 12, 2023, at 9:30 a.m.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Alexander C. Van Hook, Special Counsel to the United States Attorney, and Assistant United States Attorney Tennille M. Gilreath.