Date: October 12, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Jacksonville, FL - A district court judge accepted the guilty plea yesterday of the former CEO of a Jacksonville company who admitted to evading income taxes owed to the IRS based on a fraud he ran on his employer. According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2015 and 2016, Jason Cory was a manager at a New York-based information technology services. From 2017 through 2019, Cory was the CEO of a different information technology services company based in Jacksonville. From 2015 through 2018, Cory used his positions as manager and CEO at the two companies to cause his employers to direct a total of more than $1.5 million to Gambit Matrix LLC, a shell company he controlled. With respect to the second employer, Cory did so under the false pretense the payments were for consulting services. In reality, Gambit Matrix did not provide consulting services and there was no justification for these payments. Cory did not report the income he earned through transfers to Gambit Matrix on his tax return for 2015. He also did not file tax returns for the years 2016 through 2018 as required by law. To conceal the fraud scheme from the second employer and evade taxes on his income for these years, Cory invented fictitious owners of Gambit Matrix, made false representations to his employer, and falsified emails and IRS Forms W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number). Cory used the money directed to Gambit Matrix to pay for personal expenses such as credit card bills, rent and club memberships. Cory admitted that between 2015 and 2018, he evaded more than $600,000 in taxes. Cory is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2023, and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement. IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney David B. Mesrobian for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Richard J. Hagerman of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
