COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — A Coeur d’Alene man was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for defrauding a forestry management company out of more than $2.5 million.
Douglas Worman, 64, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after being convicted of participating in a scheme to defraud J.S. Richards Forestry Management.
According to court records, Worman owned and operated Worman Forest Management, a Coeur d’Alene-area forestry management company. In 2010, Worman entered into a factoring agreement with J.S. Richards Forestry Management, under which his company would sell millions of dollars in accounts receivable based on invoices for work Worman Forest Management had performed for its customers.
Beginning in at least 2015 and continuing through September 2018, Worman submitted inflated and entirely fraudulent invoices to J.S. Richards for factoring, falsely claiming they were for work his business had done for its clients. Between June and September 2018, he submitted more than $2 million in false invoices. These invoices, which appeared to be for legitimate work, were actually inflated or completely fictitious. As a result, Worman fraudulently obtained at least $2.5 million from J.S. Richards Forestry Management.
“Douglas Worman is being held accountable for exploiting the trust of his victims,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Albert Kelly of the Salt Lake City FBI. “The FBI is committed to protecting Idahoans by investigating and arresting those who seek to defraud others. We also encourage the public to report potential fraud to the FBI.”
