Jason Guck, 43, of Victor, NY, is going to prison for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that gutted investors and defrauded the IRS. Guck was sentenced to seven months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing a false tax return for 2012. The sentencing marks the final chapter in the collapse of 5LINX Enterprise, Inc., a once-booming multi-level marketing company that became a vehicle for greed and deception.
Guck, along with co-conspirators Craig Jerabeck and Jeb Tyler, built 5LINX in 2001 as a Rochester-based MLM operation selling telecom services, health insurance, and supplements. While the company relied on a network of independent reps to grow, the top brass had other plans. In June and July 2006, they sold $5.5 million in stock to three investment firms — Trillium Lakefront Partners III, L.P.; Trillium Lakefront Partners III, NY L.P.; and Shalam Investment Co., L.L.C. — while promising transparency. Behind the scenes, they were setting up a secret pipeline to steal from their own investors.
From May 2010 to April 2016, Guck and his partners conspired to divert approximately $2,310,510 from a Florida vendor working with 5LINX. The money was funneled directly to Guck, Tyler, Jerabeck, or companies they controlled — bypassing the investors, board members, and shareholders who were legally entitled to those funds. Their Stockholders Agreement explicitly banned such payouts. This wasn’t profit-sharing — it was theft masked as business.
The fraud extended to the taxman. Guck owned YaYa Holdings Corporation, a shell used to hide ill-gotten gains. He filed false federal tax returns for fiscal years ending July 31, 2012, and 2013, and failed to file any returns for 2014 and 2015. He didn’t report income 5LINX paid to YaYa, and he left hundreds of thousands in corporate earnings off the books. The tax loss to the government? $778,718. Accounting wasn’t sloppy — it was criminal.
Guck now forfeits approximately $53,000 in assets previously seized by federal agents. He joins Jerabeck and Tyler, both of whom were convicted earlier and sentenced to 14 months in prison. All three fell from the top of a company they promised would change lives — only to betray everyone who trusted them, from investors to employees to the IRS.
The case was brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick and investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert and Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, respectively. U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced the outcome today in Rochester. Justice, delayed but not denied, has finally caught up with the architects of the 5LINX scam.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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