IRS worker charged in Exxon Mobil tax credit score theft bid

A former IRS worker was charged in Utah federal court for allegedly making an attempt to steal $2.1 million in tax credit owed to Exxon Mobil by diverting the funds utilizing a taxpayer database he had entry to.

Prosecutors mentioned Wednesday that former IRS account administration employee Rodney Quinn Rupe acquired a U.S. Treasury examine for $2,100,377 in January after diverting Exxon’s tax credit to an entity he had created, after which tried to deposit the examine at a number of credit score union areas over the following two months.

Rupe, a 46-year-old who lives in Syracuse, Utah, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, financial institution fraud and theft of presidency property in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

He is because of make his first look within the case on July 3 in that courtroom. The case was highlighted Thursday by the authorized information web site Court Watch.

Rupe was working on the IRS’ service middle in Ogden, Utah, in 2021 when he started the diversion scheme, in accordance with an indictment filed Wednesday.

As a part of his job, Rupe “had the flexibility to regulate tax, credit, penalties, and curiosity to sure taxpayer accounts in an IRS pc database,” the indictment mentioned.

Rupe accessed Exxon’s taxpayer account by means of the IRS database beginning in April 2021, and three months later accessed the database “to assign a newly created Employer Identification Quantity (“EIN”) to an entity that Rupe created and managed, Ex Xo Exteriors Ltd.,” the indictment mentioned.

In April 2022, the indictment says, Rupe accessed a database to switch $2.02 million in tax credit from oil and gasoline big Exxon’s taxpayer account to Ex Xo Exteriors Ltd.’s taxpayer account, the indictment alleges.

Greater than a yr later, in August 2023, Rupe “accessed an IRS database to switch the diverted tax credit score funds from one tax yr to a different,” the indictment says.

A month after that, he allegedly utilized these tax credit to Ex Xo Exterior’s 2019 tax account, which resulted within the IRS issuing a refund to Ex Xo Exterior for $2.1 million within the type of a Treasury examine, in accordance with the indictment.

He then tried to deposit the examine at a number of America First Credit score Union areas.

The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Salt Lake Metropolis, which is prosecuting the case and Rupe’s protection lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

A spokeswoman for Exxon Cell declined to touch upon the indictment.

An IRS spokesman and a spokesman for America First Credit score Union had no quick remark.

The workplace of the U.S. Treasury Inspector Common for Tax Administration, which investigated Rupe, in an e-mail to CNBC mentioned, “TIGTA doesn’t touch upon investigative issues that are ongoing or are pending prosecution by the Division of Justice.”