Two former Atlanta-area employment recruiters were sentenced to federal prison for running a false invoicing scheme and defrauding the Panda Express restaurant chain of nearly $1.5 million, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak of the Northern District of Georgia announced Thursday.

“These defendants' calculated lies and fraud were driven by simple greed,” Pak said in a news release Thursday.

Dereck Cyrus, 53, of Lithonia and Chuck Sandford, 74, of Marietta, both owned companies that provided recruitment services to corporations. Cyrus's company was named “Diversified Recruiters,” and Sandford's recruitment company was named “Chuck Sandford Consultants” (CSC). Cyrus also worked as an in-house recruiter for Rosemead, California-based Panda Express in 2012 and early 2013, Pak said in the news release.

Beginning in January 2013, Cyrus and Sandford submitted fraudulent Diversified Recruiters and CSC invoices to the Panda Express accounts payable department that falsely claimed that they had found qualified job candidates for positions at restaurants throughout the United States, according to Pak. But a majority of the job candidates were either fictitious or had never been recruited by Cyrus or Sandford. Cyrus also did not tell the accounts payable department that Diversified Recruiters was actually his own company, which allowed him to collect twice for the same recruit. Based on these misrepresentations, the accounts payable department issued payments to Diversified Recruiters and CSC, which Cyrus and Sandford used for their own personal benefit.

Both recruiters pleaded guilty to fraud and were sentenced Wednesday, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Judge William Duffey sentenced Cyrus to four years and five months in federal prison and just under $1 million in restitution. Sandford was sentenced to one year and three months in federal prison and $481,000 in restitution.

Cyrus was represented by Careton Matthews of Stone Mountain. “There was a full acceptance of responsibility,” Matthews said. “The government sought more time than the court actually sentenced, showing mitigating factors.”

Sandford was represented by Page Pate and Jess Johnson of Pate & Johnson in Atlanta.

Pate said Sandford was brought into a scheme he didn't fully understand. “He admitted to preparing invoices for employees that didn't exist. That's why he pleaded guilty. It's still fraud. He clearly was not the lead actor here,” Pate said.

“I thought we had a good argument to keep him out of prison,” Pate said. “Judge Duffey did not agree.”