A jury has found former National Oilwell Varco LP (NOV) employee Royce G. Binnion Jr. guilty of first-degree felony theft for a long-running scheme in which he submitted fake invoices to his employer to steal more than $1 million he either took in cash or used to buy himself an odd assortment of items ranging from a police radar gun to catfish for his pond, a press release from law firm Ahmad Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing PC (AZA), said Aug. 28.
Binnion was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000 by a Harris County jury in state District Judge Catherine Evans' court. He also owes $5.3 million to former employer NOV because of a judgment that ended a state court civil suit filed against him by the company. NOV, a Houston-based publicly traded oilfield equipment supplier, fired Binnion in May 2011 after discovering the scheme he ran between 2008 and 2011.
Former prosecutor and acclaimed criminal defense attorney Chip Lewis served as the liaison for NOV with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Binnion.
Houston attorneys John Zavitsanos, Tim Shelby and Jamie Aycock of AZA represented NOV in the civil suit.
More than $4 million of the money Binnion owes to NOV is in punitive damages.
The civil case was National Oilwell Varco LP v. Royce G. Binnion Jr. in Harris County's 55th District Court, case 2011-68924.
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