The founder and former CEO of a sustainable fuel company was sentenced today to three years in prison for embezzling at least $5.9 million and defrauding investors out of approximately $15 million.
According to court documents, between 2021 and 2022, Bryan Sherbacow, 55, of Charleston, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., misappropriated company funds by transferring them without authorization to his personal bank account and making unauthorized personal expenditures from a company bank account. Sherbacow attempted to conceal his actions by emailing altered bank statements and other falsified financial records to the company’s outside accounting firm and members of the company’s board.
Sherbacow used the embezzled funds for various personal expenses including a vintage Mercedes-Benz sports car, a Range Rover sport utility vehicle, payments to an art auction operator, personal tax liens, credit card payments, rent on personal residences, membership fees at a beach club, electronics, and a down payment on a condominium.
To raise additional funds for the company, Sherbacow sent or caused to be sent altered bank statements and other falsified financial records to prospective and current investors. For example, he sent a fabricated bank statement to two investors that intentionally removed transactions showing transfers from the company account to his personal account. This falsified information made it appear that the company had more cash on hand than it actually did. Additionally, Sherbacow provided another investor with a balance sheet containing false financial information. Relying on these falsified documents, three investors collectively invested approximately $15 million. Sherbacow also misled an individual who loaned funds to the company about its financial state.
Sherbacow pleaded guilty on Feb. 8 to wire fraud.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Director Kelly Mayo of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) made the announcement.
The FBI Washington Field Office and DCIS Charleston Resident Agency investigated the case. Trial Attorney Kyle Crawford of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted it.