Brandon J. Black Sentenced in $632K Tax Fraud Case

Brandon J. Black, a 32-year-old Maxwelton man and owner of a Greenbrier County security firm, was sentenced today to two years in federal prison for stealing more than half a million dollars in payroll taxes from his employees and the U.S. government. The hard-luck verdict, handed down by United States District Judge Irene C. Berger, marks the end of a years-long scheme that gutted employee trust and defrauded the IRS of $632,583.18.

Black, who operated under the names Professional Security Services and later CLB Security out of Lewisburg, admitted to collecting federal income, Social Security, and Medicare withholdings from employee paychecks between January 2010 and June 2015 — then pocketing the funds. Over $400,000 in withheld employee taxes vanished, while another $230,000 in employer-matched taxes was never remitted. The total loss to the IRS exceeds $630,000, all of which Black has been ordered to repay in restitution.

Authorities say Black didn’t just fail to file — he actively deceived. As the employer, he was legally responsible for transmitting withheld payroll taxes to the IRS every quarter. Instead, he rerouted the funds to sustain his private security business and personal expenses, leaving employees unknowingly exposed to future IRS penalties and audits. No one else in the company was authorized to file or pay the taxes — the buck stopped with Black, and he cashed the check.

The case was cracked open through a joint investigation by the IRS – Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, and the West Virginia Office of the Insurance Commissioner – Fraud Unit. Investigators peeled back years of financial records, bank transfers, and business filings to trace the missing funds directly to Black’s control. His guilty plea earlier this year confirmed what auditors had long suspected: a deliberate, sustained theft masked as administrative neglect.

Assistant United States Attorney Eric Bacaj, who prosecuted the case, called the betrayal of trust ‘a textbook example of employment tax fraud.’ He emphasized that while small business owners face real pressures, skimming payroll taxes is not a financial shortcut — it’s a felony. ‘These are not abstract numbers,’ Bacaj said. ‘These are the Social Security and Medicare contributions of working people in Greenbrier County.’

Black’s two-year sentence sends a message to other business operators in West Virginia and beyond: the feds are watching the books. With federal restitution now legally cemented at $632,583.18, it’s unlikely Black will walk out of prison without a lifetime of debt hanging over him. The case remains a grim reminder that when a boss steals from the paycheck, the law comes knocking — with handcuffs and a ledger.

RELATED: Brandon J. Black Pleads Guilty in $630K Tax Fraud Scheme