United States of America v. Lester T. Jones, Jr.

Atlanta, Georgia, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire fraud.

Lester T. Jones, Jr., joined the Accounting and Finance Department of ATL Hawks, LLC (“the Hawks”) in 2016. Following his promotion to Senior Vice President of Finance in August 2021, Jones became the most senior accounting executive for the Hawks after the Chief Financial Officer.

Beginning in early 2021, Jones became the sole administrator of the Hawks’ corporate credit card account with American Express. In this role, Jones supervised the Hawks’ corporate American Express credit card program; served as American Express’s sole contact with the Hawks in the event of payment issues, delays, and card suspensions; and determined when and to which employees corporate credit cards should be issued. Jones was the only Hawks employee with full visibility into the number of corporate credit cards, the identities of the cardholders, account balances, and other program details. Jones also began serving as administrator of the Hawks’ electronic reimbursement platform, supervising employees who handled expense reimbursements.

From a date unknown and continuing through in or about June 2025, Jones used his position to defraud the Hawks out of approximately $3.7 million dollars. Jones accomplished his scheme in two ways: (1) by submitting or directing the submission of dozens of fraudulent expense reimbursement requests to cause the Hawks to reimburse him for fictitious business expenses; and (2) by charging personal expenses to corporate credit cards and covering it up through false representations to other Hawks employees, including to his subordinates in the Accounting and Finance Department. Those personal expenses included approximately $80,000 in overseas travel to the Bahamas and Thailand, $99,800 in apparel at Saks Fifth Avenue, a $115,795.01 diamond ring, $21,888.90 in Omega watches, and over $160,000 in tickets to concerts and other events.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernita Malloy prosecuted the case.

Jones pleaded guilty to wire fraud on December 16, 2025. The Defendant was sentenced to three years, five months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,898,486.99.