Robin J. McPherson, Tax Evasion, California 2023

San Diego man gets 63 months in prison for tax evasion, fraud and failing to appear for sentencing hearing.

A California man was sentenced to 63 months in prison today for criminal conduct spanning three decades, consisting of failing to appear for sentencing, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, evading the proper assessment of income tax and wire fraud.

Robin J. McPherson, formerly of San Diego and who was apprehended in Costa Rica and returned to the United States last year, failed to appear for his sentencing in March 2001 following a December 2000 bench trial convicting him and two co-defendants of conspiring to defraud the IRS and collectively evading over $1 million in income taxes for 1993 and 1994.

McPherson also engaged in additional criminal conduct. In 1999 and 2000, he earned income from individuals whom he and a codefendant induced into investing in an internet shopping mall and attempted to evade taxes due on this income proceeds by cashing the checks he received and directing the income to a bank account he controlled in Canada. McPherson did not file income tax returns with the IRS for those years, causing a tax loss of approximately $79,367.

Later, between 2016 and 2020, McPherson, using the name Raymond James, defrauded individuals out of approximately $1.5 million by inducing them to invest in villas in Costa Rica that were never built.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino sentenced McPherson to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay approximately $4.7 million in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme and to the United States.

The case was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI, and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Charles A. O’Reilly of the Justice Division’s Tax Division.

Robin J. McPherson’s full name and the exact criminal charges against him are: Robin J. McPherson, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, evading the proper assessment of income tax, and wire fraud. McPherson was from San Diego, California. McPherson was apprehended in Costa Rica and returned to the United States last year. McPherson failed to appear for sentencing in March 2001. McPherson’s sentence is 63 months in prison. McPherson is ordered to pay $4.7 million in restitution. McPherson is also ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Related Federal Cases