Beverly Carden, a 53-year-old former resident of Bel Air, Maryland, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return in connection with a scheme to steal money from her clients and the IRS.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, Carden falsely told clients that their money was being used to pay their taxes, when in fact she was stealing it. Customers who hire payroll services companies expect that they will not have to worry, but this case is a reminder that people always need to be vigilant when they trust someone with their money.
Carden owned and operated AccuPay, Inc., which provided payroll and payroll tax services to small and medium businesses. Her husband, Kevin Carden, ran the company’s “tax department,” which was responsible for handling the employment tax portion of the business. AccuPay received funds from its clients that it held in trust to pay over to the IRS and the Comptroller of Maryland for AccuPay’s clients’ employment taxes.
During the course of the fraud scheme, AccuPay withdrew from the clients’ funds the full amount of payroll taxes owed, but then paid the taxing authorities only a portion of such funds. While AccuPay falsely represented to its clients that it paid all of the taxes owed, in fact, Carden diverted a large portion of those funds to a personal bank account for her personal use.
Carden admits that the amount of loss reasonably foreseeable to her arising from this scheme is between $380,000 and $600,000. She also admits that she filed a false individual tax return for 2011 in which she did not report the amount of payroll taxes that she had diverted from AccuPay’s clients to her personal account. She also failed to file a tax return for 2012.
Carden faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for mail fraud, and a maximum of three years in prison for filing a false tax return. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis scheduled sentencing for March 23, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.
The announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.
Carden’s husband, Kevin Carden, age 55, of Bel Air, has been indicted on charges arising from the schemes and has pleaded not guilty.
Defendant: Beverly Carden, 53, of Bel Air, Maryland
Criminal charges: Mail fraud and filing a false tax return
City and state: Baltimore, Maryland
Date: March 23, 2016
Sentence: To be determined at sentencing
Dollar amount: $380,000 to $600,000
Related Federal Cases
- Lara Coleman, Mail and Wire Fraud, Virginia 2023 · Florida
- Angela M. Blythe, Bank Fraud, Maryland 2014 · Washington
- Olusegun Adebiyi, Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, Maryland 2013 · Washington
- Travis Wetzel, Wire Fraud and Money Laundering, Maryland 2012 · Puerto Rico
- Jessica Lee Warner, Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, Maryland 2015 · Maryland
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
White Collar CrimeWhite Collar CrimeWhite Collar CrimeWhite Collar Crime