Virginia Business Owner Charged with $1.5 Million Employment Tax Fraud | OPA

A federal grand jury in Roanoke, Virginia, returned an indictment on Thursday charging a Virginia man with employment tax fraud.

According to the indictment, Richard E. Moore, of Augusta County, was the executive vice president and part owner of Nexus Services Inc. (Nexus), a Verona-based company that offers bond securitization and other services to immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As executive vice president, Moore allegedly directed the company’s day-to-day management and was responsible for paying employment taxes to the IRS that Nexus withheld from its employees’ wages. For various tax periods between the first quarter of 2015 and fourth quarter of 2020, Moore allegedly did not pay the IRS a total of more than $1.5 million in payroll taxes that had been withheld from Nexus employees’ paychecks.

Moore is charged with 10 counts of willfully failing to pay employment taxes. His initial court appearance is scheduled for a later date before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. If convicted, Moore faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys William Montague and Alexander Effendi of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.