Former Taylor Farms Tennessee president accused of stealing $32M from company

The former president of Taylor Farms’ Tennessee division has been accused of stealing $32 million from the company through multiple schemes that included funneling money to a sham company and keeping his wife and other family members on the payroll. 

Taylor Farms, the major U.S. produce supplier at the center of a lettuce recall and diarrheal illness outbreak, made the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed in Tennessee. 

Who is Brian Thure? 

What we know:

According to the lawsuit, Brian Thure served as president of Taylor Farms Tennessee from 2012 through March of this year. In the roughly 14 years he was head of the Tennessee division, Taylor Farms says Thure falsified vendor charges, authorized fraudulent payroll, and used company money to fund a personal chef, personal driver, handyman, personal trainer, and even an aquarium maintenance attendant. 

The vast web of schemes was uncovered with an IRS audit in 2025. 

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Thure reportedly used his "position of dominance and authority to bribe subordinates to remain silent." He allegedly told contractors who questioned the personal work that refusal to do it would "jeopardize their ability to continue working as a vendor with Taylor Farms Tennessee," the lawsuit states. 

"Employees and members of management were told by Mr. Thure that the personal work was permissible because Mr. Thure supposedly owned part of [the company]," the lawsuit states. 

The lawsuit also names Thure’s wife, Julie Thure, James McPherson and MTS Building and Electrical as co-conspirators. Julie Thure is accused of "actively participating" in the fraud as an unauthorized employee of the company for 13 years, while McPherson is accused of funneling the stolen funds through his bank account in exchange for a cut. MTS is the alleged sham company that also was used to embezzle company funds. 

"Mr. Thure concealed his schemes by manipulating his control over subordinate employees, internal reporting channels, accounting processes, and computer infrastructure, including manipulating [Taylor Farms’] and [Taylor Farms Tennessee] IT systems and circumventing their IT safeguards," the lawsuit states. 

What we don't know:

It’s unclear where Thure, his wife and his alleged co-conspirators are facing criminal charges. Taylor Farms wasn’t immediately available for comment. 

Thure’s confession

Dig deeper:

According to the lawsuit, Thure admitted to stealing in a recorded phone call, then later called Bruce Taylor, the company’s CEO, and apologized for his "fraudulent misconduct."

"Mr. Thure also spoke to his propensity to engage in extravagant personal spending on activities such as gambling and women, none of which were related to any legitimate business purpose," the lawsuit states. "Upon information and belief, Mr. Thure continues to expend stolen funds."

The company says several of the fraudulent employees hired by the Thures tried to withdraw their 401(k) balances shortly after they were removed from the payroll, "suggesting coordinated efforts to abscond with the stolen wages."

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