Former OSI Restaurant Partners Employee Sentenced to Prison for Embezzlement

Owen R. Galvin, a former OSI Restaurant Partners employee, was sentenced in a Tampa federal court room earlier this month to thirty months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The court also ordered Galvin to forfeit $1,834,367.31 (his alleged criminal proceeds). Galvin pleaded guilty back in November.

According to court documents, Galvin and his co-conspirators, Mark Watson and Jeremy Schweickert, stole money from their then-current employer, OSI, by generating fake invoices to be paid by OSI or one of its subsidiaries. OSI wired funds to pay the invoices into bank accounts opened in the names of shell companies which were under the control of Galvin and his co-conspirators.

The government claimed that Galvin, Watson and Schweickert caused OSI to make thirteen fraudulent wire transfers totaling $1,919,417. Prosecutors alleged that Galvin was involved in every portion of the crime:  setting up shell companies and bank accounts, creating false documentation to support the fraudulent wire transfers, and sharing in the proceeds of the fraud.

Galvin was director of fixed assets at Private Restaurant Partners, a unit of OSI Restaurant Partners LLC. Authorities say that Galvin played a crucial role in the conspiracy because his executive position gave him the power to authorize payment on invoices of up to $200,000.Galvin faced up to 20 years in prison.

Watson pleaded guilty to the same offense in November and is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Schweickert, who participated in five of the thirteen fraudulent wires totaling approximately $800,000, was sentenced to twenty-seven months’ incarceration on December 3, 2010.

OSI Restaurant Partners is headquartered in Tampa and owns Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine.