Madison County Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Payroll Tax Fraud

Troy, Ill. – A Madison County businessman who failed to submit payroll taxes will be spending the 
next few years behind bars. Gary Hunsche, 56, of Troy, Illinois, was sentenced today to 48 months 
in prison for willfully failing to pay millions of dollars in employment taxes to the IRS. Hunsche 
pled guilty to the charge on May 13.
“Tax fraud is not a victimless crime,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “Stealing from the 
public fisc hurts all Americans, and those who flaunt the federal tax laws will be prosecuted.”

Court  records  show  that  Hunsche  owned  and  operated  a  pair  of  Troy-based  staffing  
companies: Unique Risk Management and Unique Personal Consultants. The businesses employed 
thousands of employees who were then leased to clients as temporary workers.

Between 2011 and 2016, Hunsche withheld federal incomes taxes, Social Security, and Medicare taxes 
from his employees’ paychecks but never paid them over to the IRS, resulting in a loss to the 
United States in excess of $9.4 million.

Hunsche used approximately $4 million in unpaid payroll taxes for improvements to his personal 
residence, located on 41 acres in Troy, including an indoor basketball court, a barn, a lake, and 
partial construction of a home with a swimming pool.

“Today’s sentencing of Mr. Hunsche shows that the courts do not take lightly those individuals that 
willfully  fail  to  pay  over  millions  in  federal  payroll  taxes,” said  Tyler  Hatcher,  
Special  Agent  in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s St. Louis Field Office. “Thousands of 
employees trusted Mr. Hunsche to properly collect and pay employment taxes but Mr. Hunsche admitted 
that he chose to spend  the  money  he  collected  to  build  his  empire.  IRS  Criminal  
Investigation  will  vigorously investigate employers who betray their duties to employees.”

As part of his sentence, Hunsche was also ordered to spend 18 months on supervised release. The 
investigation was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Norman R. Smith and Luke J. Weissler.