A federal jury in Beckley, West Virginia, convicted Christopher Jason Smyth for failing to pay taxes withheld from employees' wages at his ambulance service and for obstructing the IRS.
According to evidence presented at trial, Smyth operated Stat EMS LLC in Pineville, West Virginia, from 2012 through part of 2017. Smyth caused Stat EMS to be founded in the name of a nominee owner but continued to operate the business in the same manner as before.
Smyth was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employees' wages and paying them to the IRS. However, he did not fully pay the taxes for two quarters in 2016, instead using the funds for personal expenses and transferring money to businesses held by friends and family. The IRS determined that Stat EMS accrued approximately $3.3 million in unpaid taxes.
The jury found Smyth guilty of two counts of failing to pay over taxes for two quarters in 2016 and one count of obstructing the IRS in its efforts to collect the unpaid taxes. Smyth was found not guilty on the failure to pay over taxes counts related to two quarters in 2017. Smyth faces up to five years in prison for each failure to pay taxes count and three years in prison for obstructing the IRS.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney William S. Thompson for the Southern District of West Virginia made the announcement. The IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, while prosecutors from the Tax Division and the Southern District of West Virginia handled the case.
Assistant Chief David Zisserson, Trial Attorneys Kavitha Bondada and Andrew Ascencio of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Goes for the Southern District of West Virginia were involved in prosecuting the case.