Former New Jersey Firefighter Sentenced to Prison
for Tax Evasion

WASHINGTON - Matthew Fox, a former Atlantic City, N.J., firefighter, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Newark, N.J., the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Fox was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay the IRS tax due in the amount of $110,465 plus interest and penalties as a condition of his supervised release.

Following a jury trial in July 2007, Fox was convicted of five counts of tax evasion for failing to report more than $400,000 in income from 1998 through 2002. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fox fraudulently avoided reporting cash income he earned as a bouncer and manager at an exotic dance club in Atlantic City. Initially, Fox received cash tips and hourly pay for the time he worked at the dance club as a bouncer. Then, in approximately August 1999, when he became a manager, Fox received wages from the club, and also continued to receive cash tips from the exotic dancers. Fox failed to report all or a substantial amount of income received from the exotic dance club for years 1998 through 2002.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco commended Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation for their work on the case, as well as Tax Division trial attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary who prosecuted the case.