Former Owner of Employee Leasing Company Pleads Guilty in Salt Lake City to Federal Employment Tax Crime

Richard R. Whatley, a former owner of Alliance Staffing Management Inc. (ASM), pleaded guilty today for willfully failing to account for and pay over employment taxes, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Whatley appeared before Judge David Nuffer in Salt Lake City.

In January 2010, a federal grand jury charged Whatley with five counts of willfully failing to account for and pay over employment taxes, relating to three different employee leasing companies that he operated and controlled between the years 2001 and 2006. According to the terms of the written plea agreement, Whatley pleaded guilty to one count of the superseding indictment and may serve between 41 months and 51 months in federal prison. Whatley will also pay $541,513.61 in restitution to the IRS.

According to the plea agreement, during the 2002 through 2004 tax years, Whatley held an ownership interest in and had the ability to control the finances of ASM, an employee leasing company. Whatley’s control included determining the amount of employment taxes that had to be paid over to the IRS and the authority to decide which bills would be paid and which bills would not be paid. Whatley was also a responsible person at ASM for paying over the employment taxes to the IRS. As charged in the superseding indictment, in the fourth tax quarter of 2003, Whatley caused the collection of employment taxes from ASM’s employees’ wages and then willfully failed to pay over $541,513.61 in employment taxes (employee portion) to the IRS.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 10, 2013 before Judge Nuffer in Salt Lake City.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Christopher J. Maietta and Stuart A. Wexler of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and was investigated by special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation.

More information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at www.usdoj.gov/tax .