Akron Man Charged With Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

AKRON - Romeo Travis, 39, of Akron, Ohio, was charged by way of information on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of wire fraud. The information alleges that Travis impeded, impaired, and obstructed the lawful government functions of the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury in computing, assessing, and collecting his individual income taxes. The information further alleges that, with Travis’ knowledge and consent, his professional sports agent altered Travis’ basketball contracts with overseas teams by understating his income, prior to sending those contracts to Travis’ tax preparer. As a result, Travis reduced his tax liability. The wire fraud count alleges that the false tax returns from the above scheme, that falsely under-reported Travis’ income, were used to reduce Travis’ child support payments to an unidentified individual as managed by the Stark County Child Support Enforcement Agency.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

The investigation preceding the information was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel for Tax, Robert J. Patton.

A information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.