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Tyson Foods Employee Pleads Guilty to $550,000 Fraud

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A former manager at Tyson Foods Inc. waived indictment and pleaded guilty Friday to one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Brenda Ann Blair, 47, of Gentry admitted to a nine-year scheme that defrauded the publicly traded meat processor of $551,343.52 through her role as manager of the company’s Pre-65 Retiree Health Insurance Benefits Plan.

“As part of the scheme and artifice to defraud, Blair falsified ACH or wire transactions in that she generated fraudulent wire transfers using the names of actual participants of the plan as the recipients of wire payments from the plan, while using her own bank accounts for the receiving accounts of these wire transfers,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a news release.

More: Read the information filed by federal prosecutors.

Prosecutors said that Blair, when questioned by agents, “admitted to her wrongdoing and advised the agents that she was the only person involved …”

Before she was fired, Blair worked for Tyson for more than 25 years. She most recently worked as special benefits plan manager, overseeing contributions into and handling administrative duties related to the Tyson pre-65 retiree plan.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the IRS.

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