ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Russell Fournier, 63, of Stafford, Va., was sentenced today to 25 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for failing to pay more than $700,000 in employment taxes from 2000 to 2008.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Eric Hylton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Fournier was pleaded on Oct. 21, 2011.
“Mr. Fournier was using the federal government as a line of credit, and today his bill came due,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “This case and the many others we have brought should serve as a warning to other small businesses that cheating the government is not a good business strategy.”
“The IRS-Criminal Investigation Division takes these violations of law very seriously,” said Acting SAC Hylton. “Employment tax fraud can also impact employees, who may see future benefits such as Social Security, Medicare or Unemployment Compensation reduced or eliminated because of their employers not complying with the law.”
According to court documents, Fournier was a co-owner of Virginia Mobile Homes, Inc. (VMH), a Virginia corporation that sold mobile home trailers. In that capacity, Fournier was responsible for VMH’s tax and financial affairs, including the filing of VMH’s quarterly employment tax returns and paying over to the IRS the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and federal income taxes that were withheld from VMH employees. For nearly a decade, Fournier failed to file his company’s tax returns and pay to the IRS his company’s taxes. As a result, Fournier deprived the federal government of $722,485.43 between 2000 and 2008. In that time, Fournier used company funds to purchase for himself and his family luxury cars and trips abroad.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Chad Golder prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
-Unedited press release
