Ex-Fatburger boss indicted in $47-million 'sham loan' scheme

Ex-Fatburger boss used company funds for Rolls-Royce and other luxuries in $47-million scheme, indictment says

Andrew Wiederhorn, former CEO of Fat Brands, at the company's offices in Beverly Hills in 2017.

May 10, 2024 7:04 AM PT

A federal grand jury this week indicted Andrew Wiederhorn, the former chief executive of the company that owns the Fatburger and Johnny Rockets restaurant chains, on federal charges alleging a $47-million “sham loan” scheme.

Wiederhorn, the current controlling shareholder of the publicly traded Fat Brands Inc., is accused of concealing millions of dollars in reportable compensation and taxable income from the Internal Revenue Service and evading the payment of millions in taxes, according to the indictment returned Thursday.

Company money — categorized as “shareholder loans” — was disbursed to Wiederhorn and his family “for their personal benefit,” according to the indictment. Some of that money went toward private-jet travel, vacations, a nearly half-million-dollar Rolls-Royce Phantom, other luxury automobiles, jewelry and a piano.

According to the indictment, Wiederhorn “had no intention of repaying these sham ‘loans.’”

“Instead of looking out for shareholders, the defendant allegedly treated the company as his personal slush fund, in violation of federal law,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.

Nicola Hanna, Wiederhorn’s attorney, referred to the charges as “wrong on both the facts and the law.”

“Mr. Wiederhorn consulted and followed the advice of world-class professionals in all of his business dealings,” Hanna, the former U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “We look forward to making clear in court that this is an unfortunate example of government overreach — and a case with no victims, no losses and no crimes.”

Wiederhorn was allegedly assisted by the company’s former chief financial officer, Rebecca D. Hershinger, and his outside accountant, William J. Amon, who were also charged in the 22-count indictment. Fat Brands has also been charged.

Brian Hennigan, counsel for FAT Brands Inc., said the charges were “unprecedented, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and unjust.” He added that they were “based on conduct that ended over three years ago and ignore the company’s cooperation with the investigation.”

Hershinger’s defense attorney, Michael Proctor, in a statement called the charges “baseless” and said that, while Hershinger was at FAT Brands, “she disclosed all material facts to the company’s outside auditors, and complied with her legal and ethical obligations.”

The indictment lists a wide variety of felony counts against Wiederhorn, including wire fraud, endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the IRS, tax evasion and false statements and omission of material facts in statements to accountants in connection with audits and reviews.

Between 2010 and 2021, the indictment alleges, Wiederhorn took the money from Fat Brands and its affiliate, Fog Cutter Capital Group Inc.

In 2022, The Times reported that Wiederhorn faced a criminal probe. As part of the inquiry, his son’s L.A. home was raided by agents; investigators also sought to raid Wiederhorn’s Beverly Hills mansion.

Last year, Wiederhorn publicly announced he was stepping down as CEO, framing it as a way to “eliminate the distraction” of the ongoing federal probe. Weeks later, however, Wiederhorn “removed every director other than himself” from the board of Fat Brands and “reconstituted” a new board with directors “under his control,” according to the indictment.

Wiederhorn graduated from USC, and at age 21 founded Wilshire Credit Corp., drawing in a $300-million investment from Eli Broad, an early backer. The Oregon native returned to Portland and launched Fog Cutter Capital in 1997. With a net worth of about $140 million, Fog Cutter bought a controlling interest in Fatburger in 2003.

Around that time, federal investigators were scrutinizing Wiederhorn’s businesses, and in 2004 he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Oregon to charges of paying an illegal gratuity to an associate and to filing a false tax return. He served 15 months in federal prison and paid a $2-million fine.

The day before his guilty plea, Fog Cutter Capital gave him a $2-million bonus and agreed to keep paying him while he sat behind bars.

Out of prison, Wiederhorn tried to burnish his reputation and appeared on the reality TV show “Undercover Boss” at a Fatburger outlet in Arizona. He moved to Southern California and told The Times in 2017 that he never intentionally did anything wrong.

He took Fat Brands public around 2017 and led an expansion of more than 2,000 outlets, including sports bar Twin Peaks, Italian restaurant chain Fazoli’s, Round Table Pizza and Marble Slab Creamery.

Yet investors have chafed at Wiederhorn’s business decisions and in litigation accused him of “looting” the company of cash while his relatives enjoyed six-figure salaries on the corporate payroll. One shareholder suit filed in 2021 accused him of “running Fat Brands into the ground and bleeding it of its cash.”

Last month, Wiederhorn went on Fox Business channel to talk about California’s minimum wage increase for fast-food workers. He said prices would go up because “operators can’t afford it.”

“Everyone wants their employees to make more money, but there’s a cost to that and a restaurant operator just doesn’t have that margin,” he said.