Lesage Man Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud Scheme
A Cabell County man has admitted to being part of a scheme that caused approximately $1.5 million worth of WVDOH work to be routed to the Dennis Corporation, a Columbia, South Carolina engineering consulting firm.
Andrew P. Nichols, 38, of Lesage, West Virginia, pled guilty to one count of "Conspiracy to Impede the Internal Revenue Service" in federal court. The criminal conduct in this matter occurred from 2009 until at least 2011.
Nichols was previously named in an indictment in November 2016. He was accused of being part of a scheme that caused approximately $1.5 million worth of WVDOH work to be routed to the Dennis Corporation.
According to the initial indictment, Nichols managed the financial relationships between Dennis Corporation and a WVDOH employee. He also ensured that illicit payments were made to the WVDOH employee.
Nichols was the manager of the West Virginia Division of the Dennis Corporation while also working as an engineering professor. The case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the West Virginia State Police.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Seibert presided over the case.
Nichols will face sentencing at a later date. He has admitted to conspiring with others to impede tax collection of the IRS by using the expense account of an engineering consulting firm to make multiple covert payments via cashier’s check to Bruce Kenney, then an engineer at the West Virginia Division of Highways.
Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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