Skip to main content
Andrew Wiederhorn, CEO of FAT Brands Inc., a Beverly Hills company that franchises restaurants for several chains, including Fatburger, Johnny Rockets and Round Table Pizza, is under federal investigation, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
“In a November affidavit outlining the investigation, a special agent for the FBI focusing on complex financial crimes alleged that Wiederhorn, 56, had ‘devised and executed a fraudulent scheme’ to avoid paying taxes and received ‘millions of dollars in sham loans’ through his companies,” the Times reported.
Wiederhorn grew up in Portland and, in the 1990s, made a name for himself as CEO of a local company called Wilshire Financial Services Group. The publicly traded firm invested in distressed debt and, for a time, Wiederhorn’s stock in the company was worth more than $140 million.
But Wiederhorn got tangled up with late Portland pension fund manager Jeff Grayson of Capital Consultants Inc. when both companies encountered financial problems. After a federal investigation that dominated local business news for years, both men were convicted of federal crimes.
After serving 14 months in the federal penitentiary in Sheridan, Ore., for paying an illegal gratuity and filing a false tax return, Wiederhorn engaged in a high-profile battle with the Multnomah Athletic Club, which excluded him because of his conviction.
He later moved his family to Beverly Hills (he’s a University of Southern California grad) and focused his attention on Fatburger, although fallout from his earlier troubles and the fate of his hilltop Portland mansion kept him in the news here.
Wiederhorn has since expanded his company to include 14 other brands. But, citing court records, the Times reported the feds have many questions about Wiederhorn’s operations. He has not been charged with any crime.
Wiederhorn’s attorney, Douglas Fuchs of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, told the Times in a statement that his client had done nothing wrong. “Mr. Wiederhorn categorically denies these allegations, and at the appropriate time, we will demonstrate that the government has its facts wrong,” Fuchs said.