A Pineville man, Christopher J. Smyth, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay over $4.6 million in restitution for failing to remit employment taxes he withheld from his employees’ wages, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia confirmed today.
Smyth, 49, was the manager of Stat EMS LLC, an ambulance service based in Pineville, from 2012 through part of 2017. As the operator of the business, he was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employees’ wages and submitting them to the IRS. However, Smyth failed to submit more than $3 million in withheld taxes, which he instead used for personal expenses and to transfer funds to businesses controlled by his friends and family.
During a meeting with an IRS revenue officer, Smyth falsely claimed that he did not have personal bank accounts and denied using accounts belonging to others. In reality, Smyth deposited his paychecks into a relative’s account, making false claims to the IRS to conceal his financial activities. Investigators later discovered that Stat EMS had accumulated approximately $3.3 million in unpaid taxes.
The investigation also revealed that Smyth had previously operated another ambulance business that accrued millions in unpaid taxes before filing for bankruptcy. To cover up his role in Stat EMS, Smyth had the company registered under a nominee owner’s name, while continuing to manage the business as before.
In addition to his three-year prison sentence, Smyth was ordered to pay restitution of $4,616,704.76, a significant sum to cover the unpaid taxes owed to the IRS.
This case serves as a reminder of the serious consequences of failing to remit employment taxes and the legal repercussions of using such funds for personal purposes. The IRS and federal investigators continue to pursue similar cases involving tax fraud and other financial crimes.
