Michigan Man Sentenced in Employee Retention Tax Credit Scheme
Summary
This November 25, 2024 case narrative reports that Michael Currie was sentenced in the Eastern District of Michigan to 41 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,811,471 in restitution, joint and several, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud involving Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) funds. According to the narrative, from as early as September 2, 2021 to at least December 29, 2021 Currie diverted ERC Treasury checks that the IRS had disbursed to legitimate businesses from the mail and recruited others to open bank accounts to negotiate them, and that they altered the payee line and forged a business owner's signature. In one instance Currie diverted an ERC check for $1,504,164, obtained an EIN through the IRS online portal and opened an account in the name of the company on the check to deposit it.
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Breadcrumb November 25, 2024 Michigan Man Sentenced in Employee Retention Tax Credit Scheme On November 25, 2024, in the Eastern District of Michigan, Michael Currie was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,811,471 in restitution, joint and several after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail & wire fraud for his role in unlawfully diverting Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) funds. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, was designed to encourage eligible employers to keep employees on their payroll, despite experiencing an economic hardship related to COVID-19. According to the court documents, beginning as early as September 2, 2021, and continuing to at least December 29, 2021, Currie unlawfully diverted ERC United States Treasury Checks from the United States Mail that had been disbursed to legitimate businesses by the IRS. Currie then recruited others to open bank accounts to negotiate the checks. They then altered the “payee” line and forged the signature of a legitimate business owner to facilitate the check negotiation. In one instance, Currie diverted an ERC check for $1,504,164. Currie then obtained an EIN from the IRS via the IRS Modernized Internet EIN portal and used the EIN to open a business bank account in the name of the company on the diverted ERC check, where Currie deposited the diverted ERC check. Source : The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: E.D. Mich., Judgement, filed Dec. 2, 2024; E.D. Mich., Indict, filed April 4, 2023; and E.D. Mich., Crim. Compl., filed July 5, 2022.
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