A retired San Jose Police officer charged with money laundering, tax evasion, worker exploitation and insurance fraud was sentenced today to three years in jail on Tuesday, according to a release by the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office.
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Robert Foster, 48, has been convicted of 173 acts of conspiring to commit $1.13 million in insurance fraud and $18 million in money laundering to try to hide it, according to the DA.
Foster ran a securities business with his wife, Mikaila Foster, 46, Atlas Private Security, now Genesis Private Security. She has pleaded no contest to the same charges and will be sentenced to one year in county jail and five years of probation in April. The San Jose Police Department was unaware Foster ran the business.
In the six-month investigation into Foster's business, officials uncovered that the couple illegally reduced their workers' compensation insurance premiums and taxes by reporting false and inaccurate payroll, underreporting headcount, paying employees off-the-books, and underreporting employee injuries, according to the DA.
The couple also failed to pay employees overtime and dissuaded those employees from accurately reporting on-the-job injuries and wage-theft violations.
It was also discovered that the couple hid millions of dollars of payroll using a subcontractor, Defense Protection Group, which helped move the Fosters' money around to avoid taxes, workers' compensation insurance, and overtime wages, according to the DA’s office.
Foster repaid $1.13 million to Everest National Insurance and the Employment Development Department prior to this sentencing as restitution.
"No one is above accountability for illegally trying to make a profit on the backs (and injured bodies) of their workers," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in the statement.
Foster will also serve two years of mandatory supervision when he finishes his jail sentence.
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