William Meek, Celadon’s former president and chief operating officer, faces multiple fraud charges and is currently awaiting trial, but that didn’t stop Meek from asking a federal judge permission to take a vacation to Playa del Carmen for his 40th birthday party.
The federal judge denied Meek’s Mexican vacation request.
Meek served as Celadon’s president and COO until April 2017. Meek and former Celadon Chief Financial Officer Bobby Peavler were both charged with multiple counts of fraud in December 2019. The Department of Justice U.S. Department of Justice called the fraud “a complex securities and accounting fraud scheme.”
Meek, along with former Celadon Chief Financial Officer Bobby Peavler, were criminally charged in December with multiple counts of fraud in what the U.S. Department of Justice described at the time as “a complex securities and accounting fraud scheme.”
Meek and Peavler are accused of buying and selling trucks at inflated prices to make inflate Celadon’s financials.
Not long after, Celadon filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was the largest in trucking history; leaving 4,000 people jobless.
While Meeks is awaiting trial, he just have court approval before traveling outside fo the Southern District of Indiana.
On July 30, 2020, Meek’s attorney filed for the court’s permission to allow Meek to “travel to an adults-only resort in Playa del Carmen south of Cancun Sept. 3-9 to celebrate his 40th birthday with his wife and friends,” The Indiana Lawyer reported.
That request was denied.
“The Court finds that Mr. Meek’s requested international travel is not advisable,” Southern District of Indiana Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson wrote. “As an initial matter, international travel generally increases the risk of flight. Moreover, the reason for the travel — Mr. Meek’s fortieth birthday — is not the sort of extraordinary event that presents good cause to incur a risk.”
It may be a while before Meeks gets to take a tropical vacation. Meeks and Peavler’s trial is scheduled to begin next May.