Former Virginia Business Owner Sentenced for Employment Tax Fraud

A Virginia man and former business owner was sentenced today to 80 months in prison for not accounting for and paying employment taxes to the IRS.

The following is according to court documents and statements made in court: Richard Moore was the executive vice president and part owner of Nexus Services Inc., a Verona-based company that offered bond securitization and other services to immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With his control over the company’s business and financial affairs Moore was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from Nexus’s employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS. The timely payment of these taxes is critical to the functioning of the U.S. government because, for example, they are the primary source of funding for Social Security and Medicare. The federal income taxes that are withheld from employees’ wages also account for a significant portion of all federal income taxes collected each year.

For many quarters between the first quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2024, Moore withheld the funds but did not pay them over to the IRS and did not file the returns. In total, Moore caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $3.1 million.

While not paying the taxes withheld from employees’ wages to the IRS, Moore spent millions of dollars of the company’s money on himself. For example, he spent more than $500,000 on luxury cars, including three Ferarris, three Maseratis, two BMWs, and a Mercedes Benz. He also spent more than $573,000 on his August 2016 wedding and more than $1.1 million to write, publish, and publicize a book written by his spouse.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon for the Western District of Virginia ordered Moore to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $3,023,984 in restitution to the United States.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.