Date: December 11, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Abingdon, VA — A Lebanon, Virginia man, who set up a fictitious business for the sole purpose of assisting a co-conspirator to fraudulently obtain $1.4 million in payments from an out-of-state aircraft company, pled guilty last week to one count of wire fraud. In July 2022, William B. Sink and an unidentified co-conspirator named "Vanessa," created a fictitious business, The Rockn U Farms, LLC, and then opened a business checking account at Truist Bank in Lebanon, Virginia for the sole purpose of obtaining money fraudulently. Over the course of several months, The Rockn U Farms LLC business account received several wire transfers totaling approximately $1.4 million from a Minnesota company that sells personal aircraft. Sink immediately transferred the proceeds to various bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges at the direction of "Vanessa." He also made cash withdrawals and transfers to his personal Truist bank account in the amount of nearly $10,000. At sentencing, scheduled for February 22, 2024, Sink faces up to 20 years in prison. United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge, Kareem A. Carter of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Washington D.C. Field Office. made the announcement. The Russell County Sheriff's Office and the Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigation are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lena L. Busscher is prosecuting the case. 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.
