A former finance director at an Arizona engineering firm was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison after admitting he used more than $10.7 million in company money to pay his personal credit cards.
Mark David Latham, 61, was ordered to pay $10,752,535 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after prison, according to federal court records. U.S. District Judge Dominic W. Lanza imposed the sentence Aug. 10, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced.
A sentencing memorandum filed by Latham’s attorneys identified his former employer as Performance Software Corporation, an engineering services firm.
Latham joined the company in 2001 and was fired in March 2025, court records show. The Arizona Republic requested
comment from Performance Software Corporation on Latham's sentencing.
Latham admitted using his access to the company’s bank accounts and accounting system to make approximately 489 payments toward his personal credit cards from March 2009 through January 2025. The payments totaled $10,752,535, according to his plea agreement.
How Latham used the company’s money
A wire fraud charge centered on Latham’s purchase of $38,939 in Super Bowl 57 tickets through Vivid Seats. Latham admitted transferring $40,000 from the company’s bank account toward his Chase credit card that day.
Prosecutors said Latham also paid himself unauthorized bonuses, covered a relative’s rent and transferred company money into his personal bank account.
Latham concealed the payments by editing company bank statements, prosecutors said. The amount he used for personal credit card payments grew from about $119,000 in 2009 to more than $1.8 million in 2024.
Spending included $29,731 for Taylor Swift tickets, $46,248 for a room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Costa Rica, $38,827 for Arizona Cardinals season tickets and $28,098 for a golf simulator, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.
Latham wanted a shorter sentence
Latham’s attorneys sought four years in prison and asked that he be allowed to serve part of the sentence under electronic monitoring. They cited his age, lack of criminal history, remorse and family support.
His attorneys acknowledged that Latham used company money to support what they described as an excessive lifestyle. They said he accepted responsibility and hoped to find work after prison to begin paying restitution.
Prosecutors sought 78 months, the low end of the federal sentencing range calculated in the case. They argued that the amount stolen, the duration of the scheme, Latham’s abuse of trust and his efforts to conceal the payments warranted the sentence Lanza ultimately imposed.
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Rey Covarrubias Jr. is a reporter for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email him at: rcovarrubias@azcentral.com, and connect with him on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and X (formerly Twitter) at @ReyCJrAZ.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Man who embezzled money for Super Bowl, Taylor Swift tickets sentenced
