Former CFO sentenced for embezzling $3.1M from Kansas City company

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Florida man will now serve time in federal prison for embezzling $3.1 million from his former employer, Kansas City-based Genesys Industrial Corporation. 

Last year, Richard Scott Simkins, formerly of Overland Park, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false tax return. Genesys’ former chief financial officer admitted to embezzling from the company from 2013 until his termination in September 2020 by writing checks on the Genesys account to pay personal expenses for himself and a co-worker. 

Simkins also admitted that he failed to report the stolen income on his federal income tax returns as well as his Kansas state personal income tax returns. Simkins embezzled roughly $2.8 million for himself and assisted Genesys’ former Accounting Manager Cheryl Rose with the embezzlement of approximately $325,000 from the company. 

Rose pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, but has not yet been sentenced.  

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark sentenced Simkins to six and a half years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Simkins to pay $2 million in restitution to Genesys in addition to the $145,742 in restitution Simkins previously paid after liquidating his 401K plan. 

Simkins will also be required to pay $1,005,000 in restitution to Travelers Insurance Company; $867,713 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and $129,131 to the Kansas Department of Revenue. As part of the plea agreement, Simkins must also forfeit his home in Overland Park.

Simkins spent the embezzled money on jewelry, college tuition payments for his children, tickets to Disneyland and vehicles for his family. Simkins also used the money to travel to places like Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; and Estes Park, Colorado.