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Pineville Ambulance Boss Christopher Jason Smyth Hit with Tax Crimes
BECKLEY, W.Va. – In a federal courthouse, justice was served when a jury convicted Christopher Jason Smyth, 48, of Pineville, of tax crimes. Smyth, owner of ambulance service Stat EMS, LLC, was found guilty of failing to pay over taxes and obstructing the IRS.
According to evidence presented during the four-day trial, Smyth failed to pay over $3.3 million in taxes withheld from employees’ wages at Stat EMS. The IRS determined that Smyth used the withheld taxes to pay personal expenses and transfer funds to businesses held by his friends and family.
Smyth’s scheme began in 2012 when he founded Stat EMS after a previous ambulance business he operated accrued millions of dollars in employment tax liabilities and filed for bankruptcy. Smyth caused Stat EMS to be founded in the name of a nominee owner but continued operating the business in the same manner as before.
When interviewed by an IRS revenue officer attempting to collect Smyth’s unpaid tax debts, Smyth stated that he had no personal bank accounts and denied using anyone else’s. However, evidence revealed that Smyth regularly deposited his paychecks into an account in a relative’s name. Smyth also attempted to mislead the revenue officer by representing that he had nothing to do with several other businesses, even though he had signature authority over their bank accounts.
The jury found Smyth guilty of two counts of failing to pay over taxes for two quarters in 2016 and one count of obstructing the IRS related to its efforts to collect the unpaid taxes from Smyth. Smyth faces up to five years in prison for each failure to pay taxes count and up to three years in prison for obstructing the IRS. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 4, 2024.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Will Thompson for the Southern District of West Virginia made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, and Assistant Chief David Zisserson, and Trial Attorneys Kavitha Bondada and Andrew Ascencio of the Tax Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Goes of the Southern District of West Virginia, prosecuted the case.
Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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