Former Phar-Mor Inc. President Mickey Monus was indicted Friday on 129 counts for allegedly masterminding a nearly $500 million fraud and embezzlement scheme.
The alleged fraud forced the deep-discount drugstore chain that Monus co-founded to seek bankruptcy court protection, the company has said.The three Phar-Mor stores in Utah closed last year.
Two other Phar-Mor officials, former chief financial officer Patrick Finn and former Vice President Jeffrey Walley, were also indicted, U.S. Attorney Pat Foley said at a news conference held shortly after the indictments were returned by a federal grand jury.
Monus was charged with two counts of bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, two counts of filing false income tax returns, one count of conspiracy and 118 counts of money laundering.
He is accused of falsifying Phar-Mor financial documents to inflate the company's apparent worth and using that faked figures to fraudulently obtain more than $1.1 billion in loans and investments.
Monus also is accused of stealing more than $10 million from Phar-Mor and putting it into accounts of the World Basketball League, his failed minor-league basketball venture. He is also accused of diverting more than a half a million dollars for his personal use.
"I know that Mickey maintains that he didn't do any of these things and is going to assert his innocence," said Mark Cohn, one of several attorneys representing Monus.
Phar-Mor filed for bankruptcy court protection about two weeks after announcing the discovery of the alleged scheme.