• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Strata-gee
  • Contact Us
  • Free Newsletter
  • Sponsor Strata-gee
  • Privacy Policy

Strata-gee.com

Strategy in TECH...

Crestron Infra-Bass
AudioControl Single Zone Amps
What Savant Can Do
Sonance James Small Aperture Series
  • Latest Posts
  • Strategy
  • Technology
  • Products
  • People
  • Statistics
  • Financial
  • Legal
  • Economic Data
  • Shows & Events
You are here: Home / Law / Federal Criminal Charges Brought Against Former Vann’s CEO Manlove

Federal Criminal Charges Brought Against Former Vann’s CEO Manlove

January 21, 2016 by Ted Leave a Comment

Prosecutor’s Plea Deal with Co-Conspirator Appears to Have Fallen Through

Photo of George Manlove, now with Velodyne
George Manlove

George Leslie Manlove, former CEO of Missoula, Montana-based Vann’s, Inc. has been arraigned on federal criminal charges brought against him by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor. The charges, more than 200 of them in total, allege extensive criminal conduct, including: conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements. Manlove has pleaded ‘not guilty’ and was released on his own recognizance.

See more on this stunning fall from grace by a former tech retail star…



For about 26 years, Manlove was President and CEO of Vann’s, a unique specialty retailer of home goods including audio/video entertainment products with multiple locations throughout Montana. The company also had a couple of online ventures, including ON Store (which also had mall-based, Apple-like retail stores) and BigSkyCountry.com.  Launched in the 1960’s by his father-in-law Pete Vann, once in the driver’s seat as CEO, Manlove became relatively prominent in specialty tech retail circles. Manlove saw his personal reputation peak during the period of time where he served as board chairman of the influential retail buying group, Progressive Retailers Organization (PRO Group).

But the wheels began to come off the wagon in 2011 when whispered rumors of financial difficulties at Vann’s began to surface. Then, in June 2012, Manlove was abruptly forced out of the company under foggy circumstances. He quickly resurfaced at Velodyne in July of that year. Just one month later, Vann’s declared bankruptcy.

AudioControl Single Zone Amps
Crestron Infra-Bass
Sonance James Small Aperture
Savant

Rampant Rumors

As the Vann’s bankruptcy proceedings ground along in the background, there were rampant rumors of financial mis-management and possible criminal conduct. The company had an ESOP (employee stock ownership program) and employees, who saw the value of their stock drop to nothing, brought suit in 2014 against CEO Manlove and CFO Paul Lyn Nisbet. Remember that name, Nisbet was named as an unindicted co-conspirator to the alleged conspiracy in the action brought by the feds.

The employees sued the two executives for $9.2 million in total damages. In their lawsuit against the two, employees said the pair led “a moderately successful company into financial ruin” by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on inflated rent, bonuses and trips. In late 2014, Manlove and Nisbet settled the case, agreeing to pay employees $7.4 million to dismiss the suit.

Photo of one of Vann's locations
File photo of a now-closed Vann’s location

In 2014, Employees Sue the Boss



Instead of settling all matters, this agreement appears to have turbocharged other investigations. In July 2015, employees confirmed to the local media that they had received notice from the FBI of an investigation of the situation surrounding the Vann’s bankruptcy and the handling of the ESOP. Media reports indicated that as many as 200 current and former employees received the notice. It is that investigation that resulted in a federal grand jury indicting Manlove on multiple charges.

The federal suit alleged that “Manlove and unindicted co-conspirator Paul Nisbet defrauded Vann’s Inc., its employee-shareholders, lenders and the company’s bankruptcy estate,” according to a report in the local Flathead Beacon. “It was part of the conspiracy that the conspirators used their official positions within the company to obtain loans using Vann’s assets as collateral and spend corporate assets for their own personal benefit,” said the indictment.

AudioControl Single Zone Amps
Crestron Infra-bass
Sonance James Small Aperture
Savant

Shell Companies, Illicit Payments

Vann's LogoProsecutors also allege that Manlove and others “created shell companies, borrowed money to purchase buildings that housed Vann’s stores then directed Vann’s to make lease payments to the shell companies in order to gain ownership of the property. Despite knowing that Vann’s was in financial peril and faced bankruptcy, Manlove and Nesbit continued to cause Vann’s to make lease payments to their shell companies on the two store buildings owned by their LLCs, even though the stores had gone out of business, prosecutors allege.”



On Tuesday of this week, we learned that former CFO Nisbet has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to a charge of conspiracy. Many in the local media interpret this plea as a sign that an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors fell through. Earlier reports had indicated that Nisbet was scheduled for a ‘change of plea’ meeting with the judge, ostensibly to change his plea from ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty’ in a deal with prosecutors. Apparently, in the process of moving from a verbal agreement to a formal plea deal, the agreement fell through.

Facing Heavy Fines & Prison

The federal indictment of Manlove is extensive – more than 40 pages long – with multiple instances of multiple charges. Specifically, according to the Missoulian, the indictment consists of: 124 counts of wire fraud, 86 counts of money laundering, 4 counts of bankruptcy fraud, 4 counts of making false statements, 2 counts of bank fraud, and 1 count of conspiracy.

According to local KPAX channel 8, if convicted on all counts, Manlove is facing “millions of dollars in fines and years in prison.” Nisbet, who at this time is facing just 1 count of conspiracy, is said to be facing a possible sentence of 5 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

We may learn more on the matter as there is a pretrial conference scheduled for Wednesday this week.


Share this post:

  • Tweet
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • More
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Law, News, Pivot Point, Retailers Tagged With: BigSkyCountry.com, ESOP, George Leslie Manlove, George Manlove, indictment, ON Store, Paul Lyn Nisbet, Pete Vann, PRO Group, Vann's, Velodyne

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Sign-Up for Our FREE Newsletter

loader

Latest Posts

T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…

STORY UPDATED 4/30/25 - See a Selection of Tariff Increases from Around the … [Read More...] about T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…

Masimo Tells SEC It Was the Victim of a Cyberattack

I recently reported that I had discovered that the primary website for Masimo … [Read More...] about Masimo Tells SEC It Was the Victim of a Cyberattack

  • T-Day+1: Tariffs…And So It Begins…
  • Masimo Sells Sound United to Harman; Excited? Temper Your Enthusiasm
  • Strata-gee Founder Hospitalized After Suffering Injuries in Accident on Monday
  • Masimo.com Has Been Down for ‘A Few Days’

Categories

Sponsors

Crestron Infra-Bass
AudioControl Single Zone Amps
Sonance James Small Aperture
Savant
Oasys Residential Technology Group

Tag Cloud

acquisition Amazon Apple AudioControl B&W Bowers & Wilkins CEDIA CEDIA Expo CES Control4 Core Brands COVID-19 Crestron D&M Holdings Denon Emerald Expositions Foxconn Gibson Brands Gibson Guitar Google Henry Juszkiewicz Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. housing starts Integra Joe Kiani LG Marantz Masimo Nortek OLED Onkyo Panasonic patent infringement Pioneer Samsung Savant Sharp smart home SnapAV Snap One Sonos Sony Sound United SpeakerCraft Toshiba

Footer

Got News?

HEY PR & Marketing Pros: Have NEWS for Strata-gee readers?

Send it to: HotNews@strata-gee.com

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Sponsor Strata-gee

Strata-gee Ads

Archives

Translate

Ted Green Bio

A former dealer, manufacturer, distributor & more. Focusing on business strategy, my goal is to help you make better decisions for greater success.

Follow Ted Green

  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram

Copyright © 2025 Strata-gee.com · The Stratecon Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved · Log in

%d