The owner of a Houston-based business has pleaded guilty in federal court in a scheme that involved $13 million in false invoicing.
John Blake Tinkle, 60, the owner of Tinkle Management Inc. in Tomball, Texas, admitted to invoicing another business for approximately $13 million of shipping supplies that were never delivered, according to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. The scheme ran from 2008 through 2015.
Tinkle’s company delivered plastic shipping bags to Packwell Inc., which used them to ship the products of a third company, Westlake Chemical Corp. Tinkle would invoice Westlake for the bags – and then would also invoice Westlake for bags that had never been delivered, doctoring receiving reports from Packwell to serve as proof.
Tinkle would also present the fake invoices to a Houston factoring company, Charter Capital, to get funding based on the non-existent sales.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 8. Tinkle faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud, 10 years for money laundering, and a $250,000 fine.
