NY jury convicts body-armor company founder accused of running $190 million stock scheme

NY jury convicts body-armor company founder

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The founder of America’s leading supplier of body armor to the U.S. military has been convicted in New York of charges that he ran a $190 million stock scheme.

The verdict was reached Tuesday for David H. Brooks, founder and former chief executive of DHB Industries Inc. The company’s former chief operating officer, Sandra Hatfield, was convicted of related charges.

They were accused of falsely inflating the value of the inventory of the company’s top product, the Interceptor vest, to help meet profit margin projections.

Brooks also was convicted of using the company treasury for personal luxuries, with more than $6 million in unauthorized expenditures.

There were no allegations that the vests or other DHB products were unsafe. The company was formerly based in Westbury, N.Y.