Former President of Maryland Corporation Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Over $885,000

Spent Corporate Money on Phone Sex and Prostitutes, Claiming the Expenditures were Advertising Expenses

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2012-07-24

Mark Chandler Goodnow, age 55, of Pasadena, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with embezzling more than $885,000 from a corporation he controlled.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Corporate officers are fiduciaries for investors and other stakeholders,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “A corporate executive cannot spend money for personal benefit and falsely report it as a business expense.”

According to his plea agreement, Goodnow was the president and chief executive officer of a national fast food franchise that maintained its principal office in Severna Park, Maryland. From 2006 to 2012, on more than 200 occasions, Goodnow spent a total of approximately $885,071 of the company’s money to pay three Texas women for telephone sex and their personal expenses and to pay prostitutes in Maryland. Goodnow concealed the unauthorized expenditures by reporting them in the company’s records as advertising expenditures.

Goodnow faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett scheduled her sentencing for October 30, 2012, at 3:00 p.m.

Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation

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