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By corey

A Franklin man has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly defrauding his former, employer, Bridgestone Americas, Inc., of nearly $15 million.

On Nov. 9, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested 43-year-old Sajju Khatiwada in Nashville after he allegedly submitted “bogus reimbursement invoices" starting in 2016.

Khatiwada worked with banks to provide credit card processing services at Bridgestone's U.S retail locations, including initiating payments for bank fees and credit card processing fees.

Prosecutors said that in 2020, Khatiwada “created a phony vendor called Paymt-Tech, LLC and began submitting bogus invoices to Bridgestone for purported bank fees owed to Paymt-Tech,” and continued to submit a total of 47 fraudulent invoices totaling  $14,923,978.57 until he left the company in April 2024.

“Approximately two months later, Bridgestone Accounting Department personnel questioned the significant decrease in monthly bank fees being paid by Bridgestone,” a Department of Justice news release reads.

If convicted, Khatiwada faces up to 30 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to twice the value of the money laundered.