Opinion ID: 149873
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fraudulent Accounting Practices

Text: According to the government, because Kaiser knew that a high PA accounts receivable balance would raise the suspicion of Deloitte auditors, he began manipulating ordinary, non-PA payments to make them appear to auditors as if vendors were paying down their PA balance. For example, in the 2001 audit, there was a $10.6 million payment from Redgate's company that was treated as a PA even though it was not related to any PA transaction. Kaiser sent Redgate a backdated letter requesting that the payment be treated as a PA and asked Redgate to send auditors only the top part of the check so that they would not know the purpose of the payment. Redgate wrote in his planner on February 5, 2002, that Kaiser had called to say he needs top copy of check dated 4/11/02 for 10 million. Top portion only!  The government also cited a $1.6 million payment received from the vendor Frozen Farms, which was recorded as a PA payment from another vendor, Koch Poultry Farms. Later, Kaiser signed and sent Koch Poultry Farms a confirmation letter stating that it owed USF $3.18 million. By reallocating the $1.6 million that had been received from Frozen Farms to the PA-related account receivable for Koch Poultry, the government argues that Kaiser endeavored to mislead Deloitte auditors by creating the false impression that the approximately $3.18 million PA figure was legitimate and that it was being paid down by Koch Poultry. Kaiser responded to these allegations at trial by emphasizing that the allocation of PAs among vendors had innocuous explanations, including that the reallocation of funds was necessary to account for changes in USF's business.