Brothers in Tennessee textile mill scheme sentenced to more than four years in federal prison
May 7—Two brothers at the center of a failed textile mill fraud were sentenced Friday 50 months in federal prison, 18 months after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering in the sweeping financial scheme.
"The nature and circumstances of the actions these defendants have taken are very disturbing," said Travis McDonough, chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. "This was no accident. It was an intentional, deliberate, methodical theft from taxpayers and the community."
Twin brothers Karim and Rahim Sadruddin, 34, executed a complex series of financial frauds worth more than $30 million against federal, state and regional agencies. The financial crimes that began in the spring of 2017 were connected to a range of plans, from the unfulfilled promise of the new textile plant expected to bring 1,000 jobs to Pikeville, Tennessee, to substandard tarps delivered to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico through a Federal Emergency Management Agency contract.
During the sentencing hearing in Chattanooga, attorneys for the brothers asked that the judge consider home confinement for the men, who live with their families in the Atlanta area. The Sadruddins have made a good-faith effort to make restitution, and would be able to continue to do that if they were sentenced to home confinement, said Gene Shiles, who represented Karim Sadruddin.
"They have promised to continue to do this until the state is made whole," Shiles said, adding that the men anticipated being able to pay $5,000 a month raised through "legitimate business practices." The brothers have raised about $1 million in restitution in the past 18 months through the sale of personal assets, as well as the tarps at the center of the federal fraud charges.
Karim Sadruddin told the judge during the hearing that he wants the opportunity to raise his young son and newborn baby to know right from wrong.
"I just want a chance to make it right," said Sadruddin, whose wife and sister-in-law also attended the hearing. "I plead for a chance to do that."
Attorney Lee Davis, who represented Rahim Sadruddin, pointed to the brothers' business partner in the textile mill deal, developer Ed Cagle, as the mastermind behind the financial fraud. Textile Corporation of America, a company formed in 2017 by the Sadruddins, along with Cagle and former Alabama Attorney General Troy King, received a $3 million grant from the state to build the textile mill.
"The idea definitely, clearly, unequivocally was Mr. Cagle's," Davis said. "They were the vehicle for Cagle."
Cagle, who attended the sentencing hearing, said he bears no responsibility for the Sadruddins' actions.
"Why would they plead guilty if they wasn't?" Cage said after the hearing. "I build manufacturing plants and they wanted to know could I build them a manufacturing plant? I don't know anything about grants."
In handing down the sentence, McDonough said the brothers owe more than $7 million to the state of Tennessee, FEMA and TVA collectively.
During an impact statement as part of the sentencing hearing, Bledsoe County Mayor Gregg Ridley said the people who had hoped the promised mill would deliver much-needed jobs to the region were also victims. The brothers had promised to bring jobs to a shuttered, 186,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Pikeville. In July 2019, the company that financed the plant sale to Textile Corp. of America, Whoriskey Inc., reclaimed the property when no bidder was willing to pay more than the $1.4 million debt owed by TCA on the plant.
"That building has been stolen from the community," Ridley said. "The real victim here is Bledsoe County citizens."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Neff, who led the multi-agency investigation of the Sadruddins, said there was no indication the brothers ever intended to deliver the promised jobs, and that five to 10 sewing machines in the manufacturing facility were the only evidence of their work there.
"The scheme was basically soaked with fraud throughout," Neff said. "The defendants benefited personally from this fraud."
He also objected to the idea that the Sadruddins should be considered for leniency because they had made an effort at restitution.
"They shouldn't get extra credit for doing what they're already supposed to do," Neff said.
The brothers are expected to report for incarceration Aug. 16. Between now and then, the state will pursue additional charges, said Mike Taylor, district attorney for Tennessee's 12th Judicial District.
"We will hopefully get the state case resolved in that time," he said.
Contact Mary Fortune at mfortune@timesfreepress.com. Follow her on Twitter at @maryfortune.
