Oklahoma City man pleads guilty to attempting to impede federal tax laws

 

Date: June 14, 2024

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Lane Bierig, of Oklahoma City, has pleaded guilty to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct or impede the due administration of the federal tax laws, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

On April 4, 2024, a federal grand jury returned a four-count Indictment against Bierig, charging him with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct or impede the due administration of the federal tax laws and three counts of failing to file a tax return. According to the Indictment, Bierig has not filed a tax return since at least 2005, despite being required to do so based on his level of income. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) initiated enforcement action in 2013, which included the collection of levied funds from Bierig’s paychecks.

Court documents allege that beginning in 2017, Bierig, knowing of the IRS enforcement actions, forged the signature of an IRS revenue officer onto IRS forms, including an IRS Installment Agreement and an IRS Release of Levy, in an attempt to have levied funds paid to himself rather than be sent to the IRS.

On June 13, 2024, Bierig pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the Indictment. As part of his plea, Bierig admitted that he has earned substantial income since 2004, yet has not filed a federal tax return since that year. He further admitted that he knew the IRS had been investigating him since at least 2017, and that the IRS was attempting to collect the delinquent taxes. He admitted he forged official IRS forms and sent the fraudulent forms to his billing company in an effort to have the frozen funds sent to himself instead of the IRS.

At sentencing, Bierig faces to up three years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case is the result of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Brown prosecuted the case.

Reference is made to public filings for additional information.

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.