CEO scammed South Carolina of $1.2 million in economic development funds, feds allege

The chief executive of a Florida trading company who promised to bring more than 200 jobs to struggling Marion County is facing charges of defrauding the state of South Carolina out of $1.2 million in economic development money.

Navin Xavier, president and CEO of Essex Holdings Inc., obtained the cash payments in 2013 from an arm of the state Commerce Department, federal prosecutors in Miami said.

According to the indictment filed this week, the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development offered financial incentives to Xavier after he agreed to reopen an abandoned textile mill in the rural Pee Dee county.

Xavier then provided the South Carolina agency with false financial reports, bogus contractor invoices and fake bank statements to have the payments wired to him, according to court documents. He spent the money on a luxury automobile and other personal expenses, and he wired funds to bank accounts in Chile, the indictment alleges.

Read more: http://www.postandcourier.com/20160915/160919606/ceo-scammed-south-carolina-of-12-million-in-economic-development-funds-feds-allege