SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced an order on Wednesday requiring $1.2 million in payment by a video game developer for withholding wages from his employees.
David M. Rushton received a one-year prison sentence on Oct. 10 for one second-degree felony count of a pattern of unlawful activity, a third-degree felony count of attempted unlawful dealing with property by fiduciary and a class A misdemeanor of a payment of wages violation. Rushton allegedly withheld wages from his employees.
"This is significant because it is the first criminal prosecution for non-payment of wages in Utah and involved more than $2 million in unpaid wages," Shurtleff said.
Rushton started the Sensory Sweep Studio video game company in 2005. It later became known as Fooptube LLC when the original business had financial issues. The businesses employed as many as 211 employees.
Nearly half of the company's staff, 95 employees, filed wage claims in 2009 with the Utah Labor Commission in 2009.
After prosecution by Shurtleff's office, Rushton was sentenced in 2010 to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay $516,816 for a pattern of unlawful activity and tax fraud.
The jail sentence does not compensate the claimants for the wages they are owed.
Utah AG Shurtleff succeeds in criminal prosecution of video game developer
