Appeals court overturns defendant’s money laundering conviction in $1.9B Ohio fraud case

Money laundering rejected in $1.9B Ohio fraud

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal appeals court has overturned a portion of an executive’s conviction in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case and has ordered him to be resentenced.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Wednesday said the government hadn’t proved that Roger Faulkenberry was guilty of money laundering.

Faulkenberry is serving 10 years in prison. He was convicted in 2008 along with five other top executives from National Century Financial Enterprises, a Columbus health care financing company. Federal prosecutors likened the corporate fraud case to the Enron or WorldCom scandals.

The appeals court said the government didn’t prove that a $22 million advance by National Century to a medical company, a transaction handled by Faulkenberry, was designed to conceal the source of the money.