Sentencing for Joyce Allen and Tiffiny Thompson

Just a quick update on a couple of sentencing hearings. The sentencing previously scheduled for Joyce Allen on February 2, 2015 has rescheduled for February 23, 2015, 9:30 AM at Courtroom 4 - Knoxville, Federal Courthouse, 800 Market St., Suite 130, Knoxville, TN before Judge Thomas Varlan. Also, the sentencing hearing for Tiffiny Thompson has been set for March 25, 2015, 2:00 PM at Courtroom 4 - Knoxville, Federal Courthouse, 800 Market St., Suite 130, Knoxville, TN before Judge Thomas Varlan.

Sharon Thomas Sentencing Rescheduled

For those who haven't heard, the sentencing previously scheduled for Sharon Kay Thomas on January 22, 2015 has been has been rescheduled by the court and is set for March 24th at 2:00 PM. Other than a new date, all other details of the sentencing remain the same.

.....and so it continues.

Brian Murphy Sentenced

Here's some information recently posted on the Department of Justice website.  It appears some much more significant sentencing has entered the picture. However, it is yet to be seen whether any actual restitution will be witnessed by the victims.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Brian Murphy, 43, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sentenced on January 8, 2015, to serve 45 months in prison by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, Chief U.S. District Judge. Murphy was also ordered to pay $18 million in restitution to the victims in the case.

Murphy pleaded guilty in August 2014, to a federal indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The indictment arose out of Murphy’s participation with Joyce Allen and the late Charles Candler in the operation of a business known as Benchmark Capital, which was discovered to be a Ponzi scheme that financially ruined many of its hundreds of victims. Candler, Allen, Murphy and others vouched for the soundness of investment annuities they sold when in fact they were worthless.

Brian Murphy

The indictment and subsequent conviction of Murphy was the result of a three-year investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank Dale and Jennifer Kolman represented the United States.

Sentencing Hearing For Joyce Allen & New Trial Denied

Just to keep everyone posted, the sentencing previously scheduled for Joyce Allen on February 17, 2015 was concelled and rescheduled for February 2, 2015, 09:30 AM at Courtroom 4 - Knoxville, Federal Courthouse, 800 Market St., Suite 130, Knoxville, TN before Judge Thomas Varlan. Also, here's a summary of what was posted in The Daily Times, Maryville, TN

.... A Blount County accountant convicted in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme will not get a new trial, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, December 31, 2014. Joyce Elaine Allen, 66, of Alcoa, was seeking another trial after a jury convicted her on numerous counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering for her role in a fraud scheme centered around the now defunct Benchmark Capital Inc. The owner of J. Allen & Associates in Louisville, Allen was convicted by a jury on Sept. 22 following a two-weeklong trial in Knoxville’s U.S. District Court. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan issued a ruling on Wednesday denying a defense motion for a new trial filed two weeks after Allen’s conviction. (By the way, we heard nothing of this motion from the Victims Notification System. Honestly, wouldn't you think that this was worthy of noitifying the victims?) Allen is scheduled for sentencing at 10 a.m. Feb. 17 and could face up to life in prison. She was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of issuing fraudulent securities. ....Investors put more than $42.6 million into the fraud scheme, resulting in losses of more than $18 million, according to court documents. In asking for a new trial, the defense argued the evidence presented at trial supported Allen’s claims she didn’t know Benchmark Capital was a Ponzi scheme and was even duped herself. In his ruling, Varlan rejected these arguments and said Allen’s conviction did not constitute a miscarriage of justice. (This victim thanks you Judge Varlan!)

Five have taken plea deals, Allen was the only defendant among five others who did not take a plea agreement and instead proceeded to trial. Knoxville resident Dona Rector, a loan officer with Benchmark Capital, was sentenced in October to two years of probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Paulynn Wright, another loan officer, was sentenced Dec. 3 to four months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Varlan ordered Wright spend four months of her supervised release under house arrest. Sentencing hearings for the remaining three defendants are scheduled this month. Brian Murphy, who helped start Benchmark Capital Inc. in 2001, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. His sentencing is set for Jan. 8 at 2 p.m. Sharon Kay Thomas, Allen’s associate at J. Allen & Associates, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit money laundering. She’s scheduled for sentencing at 10 a.m. Jan. 22. Tiffiny Thompson, a manager in Benchmark Capital Inc.’s Knoxville office, pleaded guilty in June to a count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. She’s scheduled for a 10 a.m. Jan. 28 sentencing.