SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. - A grand jury has charged Maurice “Buddy” Shoe, 57, formerly of Palo Cedro, with embezzling his employees’ retirement funds and making false statements regarding those retirement funds, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, Shoe was the founder and CEO of Joined Inc., a corporation formerly based in Shasta County that provided student recruiting and retention services to Christian colleges and universities throughout the United States, Scott said.
The company provided a 401K retirement benefit plan for its employees, according to Scott. From February 2015 through November, investigators said Shoe embezzled approximately $122,832 from the employee retirement benefit fund, protected under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, by withholding funds from employees’ paychecks for 401K contributions, but failing to forward those contributions to the 401K plan.
Shoe also made false statements on a form required under ERISA as to whether there had been a failure to forward participant contributions during the 2015 plan year, Scott said.
If Shoe is convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.