Two Charlotte businessmen have been indicted and charged with failing to account for and pay more than $600,000 in trust fund taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Attorney Dena King said Thursday.
According to the indictment, Charlotte-based company rFactr sold software and support services for companies using social media for their sales platforms. Richard Brasser was the chief executive and Gregory Genter was the chief operating officer.
From 2015 to 2017, the company collected more than $600,000 in trust fund taxes from employee wages. Prosecutors said Genter and Brasser failed to file required forms or transfer the taxes they were withholding to the IRS in a timely manner. The indictment also alleges that in 2015 and 2016 both men falsely reported that their taxes were withheld and paid to the IRS, reducing their tax burden.
This isn’t the only time the company has had an issue with employee taxes. Between 2013 and 2017, prosecutors say both men failed to comply with company employment tax obligations. They failed to file employment tax returns and did not pay the company’s employment taxes to the IRS, prosecutors said. This led rFactr to owe more than$ 1.1 million in back taxes, according to prosecutors.
The indictment also says that between May 2018 and December 2021 Brasser evaded payments of the trust fund recovery penalty by using disguised bank accounts to fund personal expenses. The executive used nominee bank accounts to pay for “country club fees, luxury furniture, credit card bills, and private school tuition; purchasing real and personal property in the names of nominees instead of his own name,” prosecutors said.
If convinced, they could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison. This is an ongoing investigation with the IRS Criminal Investigation.
