PORTLAND, Maine — A Rumford man faces up to five years in prison for employment tax evasion after pleading guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maine, 48-year-old Jeffery Richard pleaded guilty in court after he "willfully attempted to evade payment of employment withholding taxes owed by his company, Black Bear Industrial, Inc."
Court records show Richard regularly used funds from the Black Bear Industrial, Inc. bank account for business and personal transactions without making tax payments, created two nominee companies and disguised his ownership, and falsely represented his ownership to the IRS for one of the two companies.
"The other company did business and had over $174,000 of business income in 2017, but none of the money was used to pay the IRS. Richard never informed the IRS about the company, and the company never filed any corporate or employment tax returns," the release said.
He now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Richard is expected to be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office, the release said.
The IRS Criminal Investigation reportedly handled Richard's case.
