Former President of TEEMCO Pleads Guilty to Federal Payroll Tax Fraud

OKLAHOMA CITY – GREGORY DAMIEN LORSON, of Naples, Florida, pleaded guilty today to federal tax fraud for not paying to the Internal Revenue Service the federal payroll taxes withheld from wages of TEEMCO, LLC employees for five years, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

On April 3, 2018, Lorson was charged in a one-count Information with willful failure to collect and pay over federal payroll taxes to the IRS.  According to the Information, Lorson was President and Chief Executive Officer of TEEMCO, LLC, from 2010 until the business closed in mid-2015.  TEEMCO was an environmental sales and consulting company in Oklahoma City.  From 2010 to 2015, TEEMCO deducted and withheld federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes (commonly called "payroll taxes") from wages of TEEMCO employees.  Under federal law, an employer must deduct and withhold payroll taxes from employees’ wages, and then pay over those withheld taxes to the IRS at the end of each quarter.  According to the Information, instead of forwarding the withheld payroll taxes to the IRS, Lorson used the monies to fund TEEMCO’s extensive advertising campaign and to pay other creditors and expenses. 

At today’s hearing, Lorson pleaded guilty to the one-count Information.  He admitted that TEEMCO withheld federal payroll taxes from employees’ wages and that he knew TEEMCO had a duty to pay over those withheld taxes to the IRS.  Lorson admitted that he directed TEEMCO employees not to forward the withheld payroll taxes to the IRS.  He also admitted that he failed to file with the IRS quarterly federal tax returns for TEEMCO from 2010 to 2015.  As part of his plea agreement, Lorson agreed to pay $3,003,220.47 in restitution to the IRS for withheld payroll taxes and other federal taxes that TEEMCO never paid to the IRS for company employees.  Lorson also agreed to pay an additional $542,162.53 in restitution to the Oklahoma Tax Commission for TEEMCO employees’ state taxes that were withheld but never paid to state tax authorities.    

At sentencing, Lorson faces up to five years in federal prison, plus a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.  Lorson will be sentenced in approximately 90 days.  Reference is made to the Information and other public filings for further information.  This case is the result of an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris M. Stephens.