Michael Todd Lucas, Employment Tax Crimes, California 2023

State: California
Category: White Collar Crime
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/california-ceo-sentenced-prison-employment-tax-crimes" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

A California man, Michael Todd Lucas, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for employment tax crimes.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Lucas controlled TradeMotion Inc. (TradeMotion), a company that sold software to automotive dealerships. Lucas controlled TradeMotion’s business and financial affairs, and therefore had a legal duty to withhold employment taxes on behalf of the company’s employees and pay those funds to the IRS.

From the fourth quarter of 2011 through the third quarter of 2015, Lucas collected more than $2.1 million in withholdings from TradeMotion employees and issued them W-2 forms. However, he paid only $760,017 of these funds to the IRS. Lucas also did not pay to the IRS employment taxes withheld on behalf of the employees of other companies he controlled, causing an additional tax loss of more than $3.5 million.

Lucas’ crimes include failure to pay employment taxes, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battalia ordered Lucas to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $4.9 million in restitution.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg and U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman made the announcement. The IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case, and Trial Attorney Charles A. O’Reilly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

Lucas’ sentencing occurred in the Southern District of California, specifically in San Diego, California, on an undisclosed date in 2023. The exact date is not specified in the source.

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