Feds Arrest Former DHB Chief

NEW YORK -- The former head of the Long Island company that provided most of the body armor for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan was arrested at dawn Thursday in a Manhattan apartment by FBI agents on charges of fraudulently looting the company and investors to pay for a lavish lifestyle, Newsday reported.

That lifestyle included supporting a stable of trotting horses, a face-lift for his wife, and a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter that featured numerous music stars, including 50 Cent, Kenny G and the Eagles, according to prosecutors, the paper reported.

David Brooks, the founder and former head of DHB Industries, which had been located in Westbury, N.Y., already was the highest paid head of a public company on Long Island in 2004, making $72 million, the paper reported. Also charged in the indictment with the same crimes as Brooks was Sandra Hatfield, the former CEO of DHB. Hatfield had previously been indicted on fraud charges in connection with the company, the paper reported.

Attorneys for the two could not be reached immediately for comment, nor could Eastern District federal prosecutor John Martin, who is overseeing the case, the paper reported.

Federal prosecutors charged Brooks in an indictment Thursday with securities fraud, insider trading, obstruction of justice and tax evasion for allegedly supplementing his income illegally in two ways: by having the company both secretly underwrite his expenses, and by artificially inflating the value of the DHB company stock. The company is now headquartered in Florida, the paper reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 10/25/07